It Is What It Is
by Laenavesse
Summary: Kid, Liz, and Patti are sent on a week long mission to the Bermuda islands, but it's quickly changing from a sub-tropical paradise to a place of Madness. What's really happening here? The answer may be more than what they bargained for. Get ready for an action packed thriller filled with mystery, humor, pirates, graphic battles, and a splattering of fluff. Kid/Liz eventually.
1. I Picture You in the Sun

It Is What It Is

Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer:** I do not own Soul Eater or the characters._

* * *

><p>"Mmmmm feel that tropical breeze!" Liz inhaled as she stretched her arms.<p>

"Sis, sis, look at this turtle!" Patti shouted, holding up the terrapin high in the air. "Think we could have it for dinner?"

Kid looked up from his guide book and frowned at her. "Patti, put that down. And the island is actually in the subtropics."

"Okaaaay," Patti pouted, but she did as told. Liz on the other hand just rolled her eyes.

"Subtropics, tropics. I really don't see a difference."

Kid ignored Liz's comment and returned to looking through the maps.

"As promised, we can look around the city, but this is doubling as research, understand?" With a sharp snap, he closed the book and pocketed it before looking at Liz in specific. "We are here for a week, so you won't need to do all of your shopping right away."

"Oh relax," Liz waved dismissively at him. "We're in _Bermuda_! Filled with beautiful beaches and—" Her eyes trailed after a group of surfers entering the resort the trio had just exited. "—hot guys," she sighed. "That bat thing won't be going anywhere anytime soon."

An eyebrow twitched, but Kid just let out a breath and shook his head. "Just remember we're here on a mission and _not_ on vacation?" Though he knew that until they actually started searching, it really would seem like a vacation. "Now come on."

"Riiiight," the sisters said in unison as they followed after their meister.

The team had been sent to Hamilton, Bermuda to help with the recent string of attacks occurring all over the Bermuda islands. However, from the outset they looked more like a group of teenagers on spring break than agents of Shibusen on the hunt for a corrupted soul. This was more by design as Kid wanted them to blend in with the other tourists rather than attract attention. Of course Liz did not care much about the reason—as long as she could wear whatever she wanted, she was set.

Despite Kid's initial statements, their excursion did end up turning more into a sight seeing trip than a research trip. Whenever they passed a store, Liz would ignore Kid's protests—"It'll just be a minute!"—and duck inside. Forty-five "just another" minutes later, they would have at least one new bag to carry. Of course Kid was also guilty of distracting them from their cause. Whenever they came upon a notable landmark, he would quickly rush over to read over the facts and spend quite a bit of time admiring its history. There were also times where he would waste time straightening and dusting off certain monuments and plaques. Knowing there was no point in stopping him, Liz would let him do what he wanted while she looked through the windows of any nearby stores.

Then there was Patti, who was a distraction all by herself. She would run ahead chasing after some animal or another and the two would have to run after her. The last thing they needed was to cause some international incident over a protected animal (at least Stein was not there). At one point she actually climbed up one of the taller palm trees and it took over ten minutes before she descended back down. In the end, it wasn't Liz's frequent shopping stops or Kid's constant rearranging. It was Patti who exhausted the other two.

By the time the late afternoon rolled around, Kid and Liz were sitting back to back on an open, shaded seating area in one of the parks while Patti continued to run and play around. Kid had purchased them some smoothies from a local vendor, and they were both taking the moment to re-gather their strength.

"Well there went that plan," Kid said dryly before taking another sip out of the mango smoothie he ordered. Although the heat did not really bother him, the drink was still wonderfully refreshing.

"At least you weren't lugging around ten bags of clothes," Liz countered, the cool glass of the tropical fruit smoothie pressed against her cheek. Unlike her meister, the heat _did _bother her. "You could have helped, you know."

He just glanced back at her with a smirk. "You were the one who insisted on buying all of that. I warned you it would only get in the way." He let out a small "oof" as the girl pushed all her weight against his back in response, but the smirk remained.

"So where do we go from here?" Liz stared up through the large palm leaves above them. She could see a few coconuts still hanging and hoped they did not decide to fall on their heads.

Reaching back to pull out the guide book, he flipped through the pages. "Hm…we're near one of Shibusen's agents. We can get the information from him and by then it should be time for dinner. There are a few local places we could try if you want to choose." He held the book over his head and Liz reached up to grab it.

"Seafood, seafood, seafood," Liz murmured as she scanned the list. "Well if you have a craving for fish, there's plenty of it," she joked. "Oh, but—" As she straightened, Kid turned to see what she was looking at. "This one seems interesting."

"The 'Blue Seashell'?" he read before glancing at her. "Let me guess. It's because they offer free pearls."

"I don't see anything wrong with that," Liz huffed, though it was completely true.

"You realize they aren't really free, correct?" he continued as he read more of the promotion. "You still have to order a certain meal and it's a random oyster. It could end up tiny."

"Oh stop sticking to the details," she said as she closed the book in his face. "It's the experience that matters!" And she wanted the pearl, anyway.

Kid did not quite appreciate having a book almost snapped shut on his nose, so he gave Liz a small glare. In return, she just smiled, tilted her head in what he could only assume was supposed to be some sort of coy expression, and stood up.

"Anyway, I have a better idea. Why don't _you_ go see the informant guy while _we_," as in, she and Patti, "continue shopping around?"

"How much more shopping could you possibly do?" he sighed. He had stopped keeping track after the fifth outfit and second pair of sandals. There were also three pairs of earrings in there somewhere. Though he never liked the idea of them separating when in a foreign location, particularly while on a mission, he supposed it would be fine this time. The girls would most likely be bored and recalling the last time Patti had trashed an agent's office, it would be easier if he went by himself. So after a moment of hesitation, he finally assented. "All right, but we should set up a meeting point. It's about four now, so let's try to meet back here at around six?" That would give the girls ample time for shopping and allow him to do a bit of extra investigating.

"Works for me," Liz said before holding up the book. "Since we'll be walking around, we can hold onto this, right?"

Kid was starting to feel as if she was becoming leader of their little group. "Yes. But if you have any trouble, just call me." He then finished his drink and held out his hand to take her glass.

"Got it. Have fun," she said before calling out for Patti (the girl had climbed up a chestnut tree this time). They had two hours, and she was not going to waste a minute of it.

* * *

><p>As like most of their offices, the agent was located in an obscure, "off the beaten path" location. And like always, when Kid stepped inside he was greeted by a wave of musty air and had to resist automatically picking up the loose papers and start reorganizing everything. The inside was cluttered with books, files, and papers, with this one having an additional bonus of empty brown bottles scattered about, all of which he could only assume to have once contained alcohol. The only thing that prevented him from cleaning everything was the painful memory of a prior experience. Having to put everything <em>back<em> in the state of disarray had been one of the most anguishing moments of his life.

After tearing his eyes away from the many precarious stacks of papers, he studied the room. The office was small with only two doors—the one Kid just entered from and one near the back. He could hear a parrot squawking from the adjacent room. At the center was a large, old wooden desk. The mountain of disorganized loose papers made Kid cringe. "Captain Morgan?" he finally called out as he stepped over a crate.

"Aye," a gruff voice answered from behind the pile. "You must be the Shibusen student." A large hand appeared and plucked a blue sheet of paper from a nearby stack. "Death the Kid, eh? The royal son himself."

Kid frowned at the last remark. "We're not royal," he said as he made the perilous journey closer to the desk. If the papers did not bury him, the bottles would likely trip him.

"Close enough," the voice yawned before the end of a pipe suddenly appeared from the side. "While you're over there, pick up that red folder."

How that man could see from behind that huge pile was beyond the young death god's comprehension, but after a quick look to his right he spotted the red folder and did as requested. It was rather thick and worn, held together only be several layers of duct tape.

"You'll find all that you need in there." A loud creak of an old leather chair. "It's a pretty interestin' read."

Kid frowned as he opened the folder and flipped through the pages. He had to be careful as like the room, the contents of the folder were less than secure. There were several smaller sheets of paper and photographs loosely clipped to certain files, and there were at least two sticky notes for every page. "All of this is about the attacks?" he asked in disbelief.

"They date all the way back to the '50s."

_That long ago?_ But as Kid skimmed over the file names, his eyes lit up in recognition and he quickly looked over toward the desk.

"You're familiar with the stories, aren't ya?" The papers shifted and moved, sliding along the surface of the desk like a glacier flow before two burly arms shoved them roughly off the side and, to Kid's horror, onto the floor. But now he could at least see the man he had been talking to. The captain smelled of alcohol, tobacco, and the sea, with the stains on his shirt to prove it. Morgan tipped his captain's hat at Kid with the tip of his black pipe, smoke still billowing from the large open end. A large, round monocle rested over his right eye, though it looked less like a traditional monocle and more like a telescope lens. "Pardon the mess—though I know yer havin' a fit about it," he chuckled. "A good bottle of rum should clear that up. Don't look like a minor anymore, anyway."

In other words, Kid realized, Morgan knew about his condition and the paper throw down had been deliberate. "I'll manage," Kid answered through clenched teeth and ignored the drinking remark. "But if you are referring to the Bermuda Triangle tales, yes. However, I thought they were all debunked and explained by more rational reasons."

"Some were," the informant said, "but a few weren't." He then reached down and pulled out a large, rolled up paper. As he unfurled it, Kid recognized it as a sea navigational chart focused on the Bermuda islands.

"See these red dots?" There were a clusters of red stickers centered around two specific locations, all of them near a few of the reported locations where ships and planes had allegedly crashed. "Those are the ones in that folder," he jerked his head to the red folder still in Kid's hands. "We suspect that it ain't no supernatural phenomenon, but a kishin egg."

Kid frowned. "But to last this long without being detected?"

The captain waved a thick finger. "It was playin' smart, but now we're onto it. We had a recent string of disappearances, usually timed durin' storms."

"It was using the storms as cover so the bodies would never be found and no one would give a second look due to the high volume of crashes that happened already," Kid murmured. "Clever."

"Until some recent wreckage washed up." Morgan drawled. "Problem is we still haven't been able to pinpoint its nest and there might be more than one of 'em." He leaned back in his chair and took a swig from one of the nearby bottles of rum. "Gonna have your hands full."

"We'll manage." Although Kid had anticipated the possibility, dealing with multiple kishin at once would still be difficult, especially if one of them was as old as the files suggested. The mindless ones were easy. It was the ones who lived long and were cunning that were dangerous.

"Anyway," Morgan jabbed a finger at a particular cluster near St. George. "You should start there. There're a few small islands that we think might serve as one of their homes. You should have a copy of the map in the folder."

Kid studied the map. "When do you suggest we head out?"

"There's a storm comin' from the north within the next few days so it'll be on the hunt. I'd try and get out there quick if I were you. But when you do head out, start in the morning. Seems like it's mostly active at night so if you want to do some investigatin' or surprise it, daylight's your best bet."

"All right." That seemed simple enough, though the storm did mean they would have to hasten their efforts. The last thing he needed was to be stranded on some remote island while having to fend off a giant bat, or worse, two.

As he turned to leave, Kid heard the creak of the old leather chair and the heavy thump of boots as the captain stood.

"One last thing," Morgan said. The sudden heavy silence made Kid glance back. "Got another little bit of info you might wanna hear. Curious?"

Uncertain by the man's expression, Kid looked at him with some reservation. "…If it relates to Shibusen or the mission, then yes."

"Oh it's related all right." The captain pulled a yellow folder from atop a different stack and flicked it over. Kid caught it easily with his free hand and glanced at Morgan before opening it. What he read was not what he had expected. At all.

* * *

><p>It was a quarter until six and the girls were still all the way across the small town. But Kid could wait. Liz was far too happy with her recent purchases.<p>

"You just can't find these styles in Death City," she sighed as she held out her wrist to look at the new set of bracelets she had acquired. Of course she had a matching set on her other arm—Kid would have a fit otherwise, and she did not want to hear him complaining about it. "Hopefully the others will like their gifts."

"Look, sis!" Patti exclaimed, completely ignoring her sister's thoughts. "Isn't that you and Kid?"

That was not what she expected to hear. "…Huh?" Liz looked up to see where her sister was pointing only to almost drop her bags.

There was a small vendor table that displayed various small drawings and colored sketches across the street from them. Each picture depicted some aspect of the social life—people walking through streets, walking their pets, entering and exiting buildings, whizzing down streets on their scooters. For hand drawn sketches, they were pretty impressive. But the one that caught _her_ eye was the one that Patti alluded to—the one of her and Kid. It was when they had been sitting together back at the park and he was leaning over to look at the guide book.

"Aaaaaah!" Feeling a rush of embarrassment, she ran over and quickly picked it up. "Why is that here? Who did this?"

"Hey, if you want it, you're gonna have to pay for it," a female voice said gruffly behind her.

When Liz turned around, she found herself looking down at a small but robust woman, her skin tanned dark from the daily exposure to the Bermuda sun. Heavy beaded necklaces draped around her thin neck and she had enough piercings and tattoos to rival a street gang. A stick of lollipop protruded from her mouth and moved up and down as she stared up at Liz. The woman then peered closer at the sketch, eyes narrowing before lighting up. "Aaah yeah, I remember that. I was just walkin' through the park when I saw you two together. Cute," she grinned.

Before Liz could retort, Patti pushed her way between them. "Did you really draw all these?" she asked in awe.

"You got it," the woman winked and took out the half eaten lollipop. "I was never into painting fruit and all that shit. Capturing the moment of one's life is more interesting."

"I can draw, too!" Patti bounced.

"Oh yeah? Show me."

As the woman brought Patti around the table to give her some paper, Liz just sighed before looking back at the small paper in her hands. It was no larger than a standard book yet the details were unbelievable. It really looked just like them. And, she was loathe to admit, it was kind of cute, though she attributed it to Kid's expression. It was rare to see him so relaxed like that. It also probably did not help that light, pastel colors softened the tones.

She was so focused on the sketch that she jumped when the woman spoke to her again. "If you want it I'll give you a discount."

Before, Liz had been embarrassed at the thought of herself in some random painting displayed on the street. Now she was not sure why she felt the heat rush to her cheeks as she scowled. "Who said I wanted it?"

"Your eyes," the woman smirked. "You've been staring at it this whole time your sister drew me this little gem." She held up the doodle of two pigs and a giraffe—trademark images from the one and only Patricia Thompson.

"Then it wasn't that long," Liz muttered as she slammed the picture back down on the table. "Besides it's not like we don't already have enough pictures of us." However, those pictures usually had all three of them, if not just the sisters or just Kid whenever they could sneak a picture for laughs.

"Ah, but do you have any like _this_?" The woman asked, as if reading her mind, and held the sketch back up, much to Liz's displeasure. What was worse was the fact that the woman was right. They really didn't. Kid would probably feel the picture was unbalanced if there were only one of the two sisters with him. It was a little sad, but that did not also mean she wanted one either.

"I think you should buy it!" Patti said in her usual jovial manner, either ignorant or because of her sister's apparent discomfort. It was never easy to tell with the girl. "And show it to Kid!"

"What—no, Patti we don't need it."

"Then I'll buy it!" she continued happily while Liz groaned. She had forgotten she had given Patti some money to spend for herself, most of which had remained untouched.

"Thank you for your patronage," the woman sang as she pocketed the cash and placed the sketch in a small folder. The folder's design was rather intricate, with swirling patterns that looked almost tribal. Something that Liz would imagine on a Henna tattoo. "In exchange for the work of art your sister did," she winked as she handed the reluctant Liz the small packet. "Enjoy your time in Bermuda."

"Yeah…thanks," Liz could only mumble as she stared at the object in her hands. But she did not have time to dwell on it for long. Her cell phone was ringing in her purse, and after a few moments she managed to fish it out.

"Kid? Yeah we're—"

"_Finish up whatever you're doing and come back to the park right now. Do _not_ get distracted, understand?_"

Liz furrowed her brows at his tone. Either he found something that was in dire need of rearranging, or something serious came up. "Uh…yeah, okay. We'll be there soon," she said and hung up after they exchanged good-byes. Still puzzled, she shoved the folder into one of her many shopping bangs and grabbed Patti's hand. "Come on, Patti, we better go."

"Bye-bye, lady!" Patti waved before the girls took off, leaving the table full of its snapshot sketches behind.

The two girls ran through the streets, nimbly weaving through the crowds. Their hard lives on the streets had taught them every trick to stealthily and quickly get through large masses of people, though Bermuda had nothing on Brooklyn. The streets were small with the alleys and side streets even smaller. Ducking through some back alleys, Liz could not help but be reminded a little of their old days.

They did not arrive at the park until fifteen minutes past the scheduled meeting point. As they jogged the last few steps, Liz had to pause to catch her breath. It took longer than she had thought. Of course it did not help that they had gotten turned around a few times.

When she looked up, she found Kid standing in front of the place they had been only a few hours before. But instead of the calm, serene atmosphere that remained hidden in her shopping bag, it had completely changed. He was tense, and it looked like he was about to try and call her again. Before she could call out to him, Patti beat her to the punch.

"Kiiiiiiid!" Patti shouted as she ran over to him, breaking both the silence and Liz's thoughts.

"What took you so long? I thought I told you—Hey!" Kid exclaimed, as the smaller girl jumped onto him and clung onto his waist. "Patti, get off!"

"Give us a break, we ran as fast as we could," Liz sighed. Wedges and fifteen shopping bags did _not_ help.

Kid managed to pry Patti off, but the look of haggard exasperation hardened once more as he straightened his shirt. "We'll have to cancel dinner," he finally said.

"Huh?" the sisters said in unison.

"We're going back to the hotel. There's been a change of plans."

The two girls glanced at each other. Something was definitely up, and whatever it was, it wasn't good.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN: **Somehow, what originally was supposed to be a simple fluff fic turned into…well some kind of complex, multi-chapter action/suspense romance fic? I don't know. It keeps changing with every new chapter and I keep rewriting and reorganizing sections. In other words, this is a fic with a mind of its own. But there will be a lot of emotional development involved. Because love is complicated. So complicated. Bermuda may be their starting point, but where will it end…?_

_And as a side note, all OCs used only serve as plot devices to help further the story along. In other words, they're only minor side characters. Though I will admit Captain Morgan is growing on me, haha. If you don't catch what he's a parody of, you will in the next chapter |D_

__Also, I hate FF's formatting. With a burning passion.__


	2. Where is the Edge

It Is What It Is

Chapter 2

_**Disclaimer:** I do not own Soul Eater or the characters. _

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><p>It was an executive two-bedroom suite located on the highest floor of the resort building. When the group first arrived that morning, Patti ran through all the rooms exclaiming how huge it was and how it was almost like living in the manor back home. Liz on the other hand went straight outside to the balcony that curved around their side of the building, taking in the expansive ocean landscape and waving down at other guests sunbathing on their own balconies. The last four levels were tiered, allowing the guests to take advantage of the Bermuda sun. As for Kid, he went through the rooms straightening and repositioning the furniture and paintings until he was satisfied. With more than spacious bedrooms, Jacuzzi bath tubs, a full kitchen, living room, a large HDTV hanging from the wall, and the bright Bermuda sunlight streaming through the windows and skylight above them (the sun had sunglasses on that day), it really did seem like they were on vacation instead of on a mission.<p>

But instead of enjoying the amenities of the suite or preparing for a late evening dip in the ocean or pool, the Thompson sisters were gathered around the main dining table where Kid stood and spread out the various documents he had received. An unopened yellow folder rested in the middle. Liz watched his actions carefully. He had been silent the whole walk back to the resort, that grim expression breaking only for a moment when he ordered room service to be delivered up to their suite. Even Patti had remained quiet, as if sensing the seriousness of the situation—whatever that was.

Liz waited a few minutes, waiting for him to finish setting down the papers before she finally broke the heavy silence. "…Hey, Kid. What's up? What did the guy say?"

There was a moment as Kid straightened one final pile of documents before he reached over and flipped open the yellow folder. As the evening sun reflected sharply off the photos, Liz felt bile rise up her throat and covered her mouth. Even Patti had to flinch and look away.

"We might have a problem," Kid finally said, his eyes focused on the pictures.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Earlier, back at Captain Morgan's office<strong>_

At the stunned expression on the young death god's face, the captain took a few puffs from his pipe before nodding at the folder. "Those have been showin' up within the past few days. Some washed up, others just out somewhere in the boondocks. You can tell where the animals got a few of 'em. Since they've only been found near remote local villages by the coastline, we first thought it was the damn bat expanding its territory. But it might be worse than that."

Kid could only stare at the photographs within the folder, unable to tear his eyes from the grisly scenes as he slowly picked through one photo after another. There were twelve victims in total and each was charred beyond recognition. Worse still, many were missing a number of limbs and other body parts. Arms, legs, hands, feet, eyes, heads—some were just torsos and others were just lumps of flesh. As Morgan had said, it was obvious that animals were one of the reasons for the missing limbs, but even more disturbing were the clean cut marks on all of them. Cuts that a certain professor would have been proud of. Animals may have had a feast, but the cut remains were already leftovers.

Morgan leaned against his desk, arms crossed over his chest. "As you can probably guess, their souls were gone. But we couldn't do much aside from takin' those pictures. Not even a proper burial. With tourists and vagrants runnin' around, it's been hell tryin' to identify 'em. Most are still John and Jane Does."

"And you think this is connected to the kishin egg?" His voice came out more hollow and numb than he expected. Kid had seen victims who had met gruesome ends, and he himself had mutilated kishin egg bodies before in his efforts to eliminate them. But this? This was different. Even he would have never imagined either a kishin egg or a witch to go to such lengths.

"Might," Morgan grunted, "but can't say for sure. Ain't a lot of witnesses around. Either way, I'd rather it than some new kishin egg roamin' around. One's enough. Two's just a fuckin' headache."

"One may be just as bad as two," Kid murmured as he flipped through the documents. He then opened the original red folder. "If we assume it is the original, then it's getting impatient and devolving faster." Kishin eggs were inherently dangerous, but some less so than others. Regardless, as time went on the insanity and corruption would take its toll. Even the most meticulous and careful kishin eggs would fall prey to the inevitable. If the other data was correct and the kishin egg had stayed hidden for as long as it had, then they were running short on time. "But the state of the corpses—this particular kishin egg could not have performed such surgical cuts."

Morgan took a swig of his rum before answering. "There's somethin' you gotta know about these islands. A lot of crazy folk pass through here and there are plenty of places for 'em to hide with all the caves and small islands around here."

"Like pirates," Kid said in wry, but still hollow tone as he finally tore himself from the photos and looked up at the man, unsure of where he was going with this.

Morgan raised his bottle and smirked, a foot propped up on a nearby stool. "To life, loot, and plunder." The captain then took another hearty swig, letting out a loud belch as he slammed the bottle back down on the table. He smirked at the look of disgust from Kid's face. He knew that at least this teenager would drink responsibly, not that it mattered. The real question was if he would drink or even be affected by it. Death gods were curious creatures.

"But you get the picture. This may be a great tourist vacation spot, but it ain't all sunshine and rainbows. You wanna hire someone to do your dirty work? There are plenty of folk who'd be willin' to do it. Ain't the first time, ain't gonna be the last."

Kid frowned, eyes narrowing. He was starting to see the picture the captain was painting, but it was a picture that he rather not be true. "What do you mean?"

"Think about it, kid." No pun intended. "Kishin eggs will form organizations to get their souls, but that ain't gonna be enough. Too risky, too. Could turn on each other. You also got witches who need souls and know they're bein' hunted. If they can't get 'em themselves, why not hire a black hearted soul willin' ta make an extra buck? Their profession is called 'soul hunter' for a reason." He snorted. "Not all bad eggs are kishin ones. Hell, these guys are probably worse."

There was no response. The logic coupled along with past historical accounts forced Kid to swallow the likely if deplorable truth. He was more accustomed to the kishin eggs and witches being involved in such acts—not ordinary humans. The thought of people willing to kill and sell the souls of innocents for profit sickened him. Not only that, but it was a dangerous game they played as they could easily become kishin eggs themselves, or, worse, their patrons could turn on them. But what the captain said was true. While many corrupt and evil souls followed the path of the kishin, there were still those who were just as evil without consuming a single soul. And those, as the captain suggested, were probably even more dangerous than those who did.

"Here." Breaking the silence, Morgan pulled something from his shirt pocket. He stared at it for a moment before flicking it toward Kid.

Like the folder from before, the young death god easily caught it between the tips of index and middle finger. He gave the captain a wary glance before looking at the item between his fingers. It was a photograph—more specifically, a very recent photograph of yet another victim to the recent killings. This one, however, was different from the last. The shoulder badge marked him as one of Shibusen's agents and, he noticed, though the limbs were severed, they had also been positioned in a certain way. A crude circle around the main portions of the body.

"A message?" Kid finally spoke, eyes hardening as he took in every detail. It was difficult, but he had to if he wanted to understand who was going around killing these innocent victims.

"Seems that way. A few known groups have cropped around here so we've been investigating." He nodded toward the picture. "He was workin' with us. Found him like that last night. But there's another thing about these killings that you should probably know about." Morgan's large, calloused hands gripped the sides of the desk as he leaned over it. The wood creaked under his weight. "Took us a while, but we caught a pattern. Most of the folk were weapons."

At the mention of weapons, Kid looked up sharply, his eyes widening. "Weapons?"

"We got a few local tribes here that have weapon blood in 'em. With these islands bein' as they are, it ain't unusual to see a lot of weapons gathered here. Still, they're a minority. Would have more luck pickin' off some normal human." He scratched his scraggly chin. "My guess is they want a weapon soul for a reason." A pause. "Maybe get more _bang_ for the buck, if you know what I mean."

He did. "And you're certain of this?" There was now only one thing on Kid's mind, or rather two things, and his hand automatically reached for the pocket where his cell phone currently resided.

Morgan turned, that telescopic monocle reflecting Kid's paling expression. "If I were you, I wouldn't be wanderin' around some unknown place with a kishin egg and his crew roamin' the waters by myself." A puff from his pipe. "Especially with a pedigree like yours."

Kid was silent. There was little that needed to be explained from that "advice." "Have you told my father?"

"He should have gotten word of it by now," Morgan said with a wave before pulling out a small sheet of paper and leaned toward Kid again, hand outstretched. "Now before you go…"

Kid stared at the sheet being held out toward him. "Is this going to be yet another special 'surprise,' Morgan?" he asked coldly.

The captain guffawed. "Hah! Nah, I'm good for the night, though who knows what the week'll bring. This here is a contact list for the others. You'll probably want it if you wanna get around or in case you get your ass shoved up between a rock and a hard place and need help."

There was very little appreciation the language, but Kid slowly took the sheet of paper and examined it. It had been folded over several times and the corners were torn. A few names were crossed off the list and his eyes glanced up toward Morgan. Despite the cheeky grin, he had a feeling the struck out names did not recently, or willingly, retire.

"I'll keep that in mind," he finally said, slipping the paper into one of the folders.

* * *

><p>By the time Kid finished recounting what had transpired, the sun had set and the moon's façade peeked through glass doors with its usual odd, toothy grin. Of course his version was less detailed and only hit the main points: there was a high possibility that the kishin egg was devolving faster than expected and that it may have hired "soul hunters" to help collect its souls. However, he made no mention of the agent's demise. This was already a heavy topic and he thought it would do little to help if he showed them that particular photo.<p>

As it was, Liz was having difficulty swallowing it all and it was several minutes before she finally managed to speak up again. "Is…isn't this getting way out of hand, now? I mean we came here just for the kishin egg, but if there's some underground soul smuggling ring going on, there's no way we can handle it by ourselves!" The fact that they seemed to be targeting weapons did not help, either.

"I know," Kid admitted with a frustrated sigh. "And the number of stationed agents is at the bare minimum. But even so, we have a mission to complete. Whether we are to be involved with the recent events has yet to be determined, and I'll contact Father about it later tonight. But in the meantime, be aware of the dangers that we now face, especially you two." He glanced at each sister sitting across from him. "From now on, we need to stay together. If we do have to split up, you two must remain with one another at all times. At least then you will be able to adequately protect yourselves."

Liz gave him a sharp look, but before she could say anything, Patti spoke the words for her. "What about you, Kid? Will you be okay without us?"

He gave them a quick glance as he gathered the photos. "I'll be fine. Besides, if these are just normal humans, then they'll likely think twice before trying to steal my soul," he added with a slight grin. Though could a normal human take down a Shibusen agent so easily? He was careful to keep the unsettling thought to himself.

"But that's our situation. As we only have leads for the kishin egg, we need to focus on that," he continued. "Based off Captain Morgan's information, we'll investigate the area around St. George. We'll head out by boat to the main port and transfer to another one to get to the smaller islands." Normally they would use Beelzebub to travel, but with the heightened security risk, Kid thought it safer to use normal methods of transportation. "I've made the arrangements through one of our contacts, so they will be waiting for us at the port."

"Oooh, a boat ride!" Patti clapped. "It's been a while since we've been on one, right sis?" It was as if she had forgotten all about the gravity of their situation. Or perhaps, more accurately, she did not think much of it. They had been in many dangerous situations before, after all. So long as they stuck together, they would be fine, and that was good enough for her.

Her sister, however, thought very differently.

"No. No, no, _no_." Liz was now standing and had backed away from the table, her arms crossed tightly over her chest. "Look, I thought we were after some _normal _kishin egg, not be some…some _target_ for some its cronies and be its meal! Especially when they do something like that!" She waved her hand at the folder before tucking her hand under her arm again.

Kid knew she would be like this, and did not he blame her. "Liz, I know things will be more dangerous but if we take care of the kishin egg then this will all be over." Assuming that it was the kishin egg's doing, but he was not going to give his weapon more fuel to fight with.

"Sure we can! No one caught it for this long—it could wait a few more days or weeks for a different team to come in. Why not Maka and Soul? They can fly. Or, or, Kim or—" She threw up her hands. "Anyone but us!"

"We cannot wait," he said flatly. "And neither would be able to fly _and_ fight at the same time. They each have to rely on their weapon for flight whereas I can use Beelzebub and—"

"Then let _them_ use it!"

"—_and_," he continued as he closed his eyes, raising his voice just enough to cut her off, "I can summon it at will, which eliminates any need to bring any extra equipment. Also, because you both are long range weapons, we have more maneuverability and I can conceal you both should the need arise." Kid reopened his eyes and stared hard at Liz. "This was already designated as a SPARTOI mission and of all the members we are the best capable team for it. Although the recent attacks were not considered as part of the mission, they now are. As I said before, I will contact Father tonight and reinforcements will likely arrive within the week if not sooner. So long as we remain vigilant and _focus_ on the current mission, we will be fine."

"But—"

"We are staying and that's final."

Patti eyes slowly moved from the cold, hard look of her meister to the frustrated but frightened glare of her sister. It was a scene she was familiar with, though it had been a while since it had been this heated. It was also the first time where it seemed like her sister was actually serious about it. Usually when Liz wanted out of a mission it was because of her usual fears: bugs, ghosts, creepy things. But as always, the younger Thompson sister could not see a problem.

"Hey, sis," Patti leaned over and tugged at the hem her sister's shirt. "It'll be fine! We'll be with Kid and he won't let anything happen to us!"

"That's not—" Liz faltered and let out a long sigh. She still had her misgivings, but there was little she could do. It also did not help that she was not sure for whom she was arguing for. For herself, for her sister, or for her meister? Just the thought of them becoming one of those victims sent chills up her spine. Regardless, no matter how much she argued, it was clear Kid was set in his way and as his weapon she could only follow. She ran a hand through her long, dirty blond hair before dropping it and looking back over at him, her eyes hard and cold. "Okay, _fine_. But we stay together and when we're going through those stupid jungles—"

"Forests."

Liz glared at her meister, who only gave her an even stare in return. "Fine. Stupid _forests_, Patti and I will stay transformed."

Kid let out a small breath. At least she was now cooperating and thinking of a strategy. "You should also try to refrain from transforming in public unless absolutely necessary."

"Like when we're shooting those pirates in the head!" Patti laughed. "It'll be just like in the movies! Think there could be treasure hidden on the islands?"

Her sudden outburst made the other two start and stare at her. Where did the notion of pirates and treasure come from? It was so out of the blue, it managed to break the tension enough so that Kid and Liz were no longer glaring daggers at each other and instead just wondering what went on in that girl's head.

Regardless, it seemed like their conversation was over. There was a buzz at the door and Patti exclaimed, "Yay, the pizza's here!" before jumping up to get the door. As he turned to follow, Kid gave Liz one last glance. Their eyes met only briefly before she turned away and moved to get drinks and plates.

Since the documents were covering the table, they reconvened on the couch. Or to be more precise, Kid and Liz sat on the couch while Patti propped up some pillows on the floor and ate while lying flat on her stomach. She had full control of the TV remote so they were subject to whatever she chose. It was cartoons.

By this time Liz had calmed and was slowly, if begrudgingly, accepting their fate. She still felt irritated at Kid so she sat on the exact opposite end of the couch, creating as much distance as she could between them. She knew she was acting childish, but she could not help it. Sometimes a girl just needed to have some space, and thankfully Kid was not making any sign of intruding into it. Not that he would even on a normal day. Instead he was reading over some papers he had brought with him. In some ways it was a comical sight: one hand holding a half eaten slice of pepperoni pizza as he concentrated on the text. If she had been in a better mood, Liz could have reached over and snatched the slice away and he would not notice until it was too late.

However, she was not, and in the end she could only stomach one slice. Claiming the flavoring was off and had too much cheese, she put up her plate and went to the room she and Patti shared. In an effort to distract herself, she took all of the clothes she bought and spread them out over the two beds. When she pulled out the packet housing the sketch from earlier, she stared at it for a moment and recalled those more peaceful moments from that afternoon. That was how this trip should have been. Not this constant fear that their souls will be taken and bodies cut up into a million pieces. She wanted to protect those happy moments, but what if she could not? Shaking her head, she quickly shoved the folder into the nightstand drawer.

A long, relaxing bath in the Jacuzzi, six blouses, ten skirts, three shorts, five pairs of shoes, five pairs of earrings, twenty bracelets and bangles, four wraparounds, two bikinis, and a white sun hat later, she had arranged several different outfits and had the one picked out for tomorrow. It would be weird not wearing their usual SPARTOI uniforms, but if they wanted to go incognito, casual was the only way to go. Given the climate and environment, it might be more practical, too.

The activity was not a complete fix—her mind still kept drifting every now and then—but it certainly helped pass the time away. By the time Patti burst through the door to bounce on the now empty bed and turn on the television, Liz had hung up most of the clothes and was working on her nails—another attempt at distraction.

"Why aren't you watching TV out in the main room?" Liz asked as she inspected her work.

"Kid's reading and wanted some quiet," Patti said in a bored tone.

_Figures_, she thought absentmindedly before glancing at the clock. Was it really already ten o'clock?

The two girls continued their activity in silence before Patti suddenly asked, "How come you were so mad at Kid?"

Startled, Liz looked up to find her younger sister staring at her with an odd, curious look. Feeling a bit unnerved, she returned her attention back to her unfinished nails. "I wasn't…mad. Just frustrated," she muttered. Though her reasons for being so were unclear even to her.

"But it's only just a mission."

"Patti, there are people out there hunting souls. _Weapon_ souls."

"So?" Patti stood up on top of her bed, bouncing five times before hopping over to her sister's. She then flopped down so that she was lying on her back, her face looking up toward Liz. "We'll shoot up anyone who tries, _bang bang_!" Hands waved in the air in a pistol shooting fashion. "They won't get our souls. Kid won't let it happen, and I'll protect yours, too, sis!"

Liz could only stare at the bright grin on the younger girl's face and she could not help but feel her lips twitch a little. There were times when Liz wished her sister would use her senses and act her age. Then there were times like these where she was grateful for her sister's carefree and childish attitude. Now fully smiling, she leaned over a bit. "Oh really, huh? I guess I can't slack off either."

"Nope!" Patti laughed. "But nothing will stop us!"

Liz laughed for the first time since they had returned to the suite. It was a small one, but it was a laugh nonetheless. "Okay, okay. Now go get ready for bed."

"Okaaaay!"

As she watched her sister bounce off, Liz slowly felt herself relaxing a little bit more. She still had her worries about the days ahead, but her little sister was right. They had each other and nothing was going to stop them. All they had to do was get rid of this stupid kishin egg and then they could head home. But one thing was for sure. She was going to need a real vacation after this hot mess was over.

* * *

><p>It was close to midnight when Kid stood in the exact center of his room, hands positioned in front of his chest with palms facing outward. Taking a slow, deep breath, he closed his eyes and gathered his powers. Wisps of black and dark purple energy swirled at his feet, slowly gaining momentum. Communicating with his father had always been a simple task, but the farther away he was, the more it took to create the connection to his father's mirror back in Death City. For some reason it took even more concentration than usual from here, but he had no time to dwell on it.<p>

After another quick intake of breath, he executed the simple hand motions and outstretched his arms in perfect parallel formation as smoky black skulls swirled around him. In the next instant, bright light exploded from his extended fingers, the skull insignia appearing beneath his feet and expanding outward. The light continued to rise from the eyes and nose holes of the skull, reaching up to the ceiling as black and purple sparks danced around the column. There were a few more crackles and buzzes of static, but soon the connection was complete and his father's image appeared before him.

"Hello, hello!" Lord Death greeted his son, a large oversized hand raised in a wave. "What's up? How are you enjoying the beach?"

_Lackadaisical as always,_ Kid thought with a small sigh. "Unfortunately we do not have time for that right now."

"No time? Nonsense! You're in Bermuda, a tropical paradise—"

"Subtropical."

"—and are there for a week! It's a good opportunity to relax, yanno?"

"Father, you realize we were sent here on a mission, not for a vacation," Kid said, his voice a complete deadpan.

Death just sighed. "All work and no play isn't good for the soul, Kid," he said morosely, the eyes of his skull mask angling down to mirror his saddening expression.

His son's face, however, remained devoid of any expression or reaction. "If it's any consolation, we spent most of this afternoon exploring the town, and the girls went out shopping while I met with the agent."

"Good, good!" Death clapped his hands together before he rubbed his "chin," the masked head angled at a thoughtful tilt. "Hmm, but shopping you say? That explains the $962.73 credit charge I got earlier."

Whatever serious expression Kid had, it was immediately wiped away when he heard the numbers. "They spent _how_ much?" he sputtered.

"It's fine, it's fine," Death said in his usual relaxed manner, waving his large hand dismissively. "I'll just take a cut out of your allowance for the next month."

"My—" Kid closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. He _really_ needed to limit that girl's access to his account. But he was getting sidetracked. "Father, that isn't why I called. I wanted to talk about the—"

"Soul hunters?" his father finished for him. Although not as cheerful as before, his voice was still calm.

"So you understand the situation."

"It's unfortunate, yes. But that's how it goes!"

Kid sometimes wished his father would address things more seriously, especially with matters such as this. "Perhaps, but one of the Shibusen agents stationed here was killed."

"Oh?" There was a slight rise in the death god's voice as he tilted his head.

"It would seem that the soul hunters are aware of Shibusen's involvement, but care very little about it." Kid pulled out the photograph he had kept hidden in his pocket. "They found him like this."

Death leaned forward, examining the photo closely before returning to his usual stilted, upright position. "Hmmm, well that does make things more difficult, doesn't it?" As usual, despite the grave situation, the elder death god remained calm and even whimsical. "Does anyone other than the agents know you're from Shibusen?"

"No, at least not that I can tell." It was really through sheer luck that he had initially thought they should blend in with the tourists and not wear their SPARTOI uniforms.

"Keep it that way if you can, but be careful. Those soul hunters may have someone who can perceive souls like you."

"I'll try." Though Kid had a feeling that once he started fighting against the kishin egg, it would not take long before everyone knew they were there, Soul Perception or not. But that did give him a thought. "However, it's highly likely that they do. It seems they have been focusing on weapon souls." He looked up at his father. "Do you have any idea why?"

The death god stroked his "chin," which was really the three pointed teeth of his mask. "Hm… Maybe whoever is eating them prefers the taste of weapons?"

The silly tone that came out from behind the comical skull mask belittled the otherwise serious topic. "I would hope it would be more than just taste." Kid said flatly. To be killed to have one's soul consumed for power was one thing. But to be killed only because it seemed tastier than others just seemed far too demeaning.

"Well if you want to take the worst possible scenario," Death huffed, the eye holes of the mask slanting at a slight downward angle. "As you know, every soul is unique to the individual, and that is also true for the type of soul. Weapon souls in particular are quite powerful, especially if they have consumed kishin eggs to level up. Thus, consuming a weapon's soul would allow it to gain more power than if it only ate a normal human soul."

"…Hm." Kid mused over the concept, a bent finger resting right beneath his lower lip. "That makes sense, but why use soul hunters?"

"Most kishin eggs prey upon the weaker humans as they are easier to kill. It would be no problem to take on a weaker weapon, but there wouldn't be much to gain from that. But stronger weapons could pose more of a threat. So…" The elder death gave waved his hand for his son to continue.

"So…" Kid started, his brows furrowed. "…In order to take on a weapon, it would either need to be stronger or hire someone else to do the killing for it. And by hiring multiple agents, it would be able to amass souls faster with little risk to itself."

"Very good!" the elder death god beamed, clapping his oversized hands together. "Though I suppose it's also possible to try and harness certain powers." Another stroke of the "chin." "Which could be troublesome, indeed."

"But they wouldn't be able to gain that weapon's ability," Kid frowned. "The weapon powers are passed by blood, and even then it's like a recessive gene. Unless the family is like the Nakatsukasa clan and focuses on maintaining the bloodline and producing weapons, a weapon may not appear until generations after the last."

"Correct again! So what could they be trying to gain, hmmmm?"

As usual, the death god was not giving his son any clear answers and was instead forcing him to think it through. But this was one riddle Kid was unable to solve right away, and he let out a sigh. "If it can't be that weapon type's ability, then I have no idea."

"It's okay, neither do I!"

Kid felt the strength in his legs momentarily give way and staggered before he recollected himself. "You're joking."

"Nope. It was just a thought I came up with just now!" The oversized gesture of peace did little to ease his son's look of displeasure. "Anyway, there's no point in dwelling on something we don't know," he continued in his usual easygoing manner. "As long as you stop it before it advances, then everything will be fine!"

"…Hm." Kid was skeptical of his father's words, but it seemed as if there was no more to be said on that matter. "I'll see if I can ask Captain Morgan more about the victims tomorrow," he finally said. He could at least see if there were any connections, and if there were it would at least help predict their movements.

There were still a number of things Kid wanted to ask, but he felt the connection starting to break. His father's image twitched this way and that, and it was not as clear as it had been before. Strange, but he attributed it to his own waning energy. It was not the first time their communications had been cut short by poor reception.

"Father, the connection is starting to weaken."

"Hmmm, it is rather late, isn't it? Well that's okay! Do you want me to tuck you in?"

"Not only is that impossible, but entirely unnecessary," Kid said curtly.

"Okay, okay," Death sighed before perking up again. "Oh, before I forget! Think you could get me one of those native masks?" The two oversized hands clapped together as the death god's body tilted toward the right, his voice taking on that ridiculously goofy, loud booming tone. "I've always wanted one!"

Kid could only stare at his father's unexpected, if unsurprising, request. Only his father would request a souvenir after discussing a serious matter. "…If I have time," he said in a dry, tired tone. But he would keep an eye out regardless.

"Thank you, thank you!" the death god bounced. "Now head along to bed and try to enjoy the time while you're there, okay? The girls could probably use it, too, you know."

There was a pause as Kid hesitated. He never considered it that way before. At first blush it seemed silly to him as he thought it would be more prudent to focus on the task at hand, but his father was right. Given their circumstances, having a small break every now and then may not be such a bad idea. The girls would at least benefit from not having to think about it all the time like he did and it would help ease the tension. "I'll keep that in mind," he said thoughtfully. "Goodnight, Father."

"Night, night! Tell the girls I said hi!" With a final wave, the connection broke. The columns of white light disappeared and the skull's outline disappeared in an explosion of black, smoky skulls.

As the smoke cleared, Kid felt as if all his energy had been sucked right out of him and he staggered back to sit on the edge of his bed. He ran a hand over his face, leaving it there for a few seconds before flopping backwards. Slowly he closed his eyes, and in the darkness of his mind he sorted through the information he learned within the past seven hours.

_Kishin egg, soul hunters, weapons, Bermuda Triangle, disappearances, souls, pirates…treasure?_ Images of Patti dragging them across the islands to find some buried treasure chest filled with souls had flickered through his mind, and it took him several seconds to realize what he was imagining. After a slight shake of his head to clear his mind, he reopened his eyes part way to stare through the strands of his now messed up bangs and up at the white ceiling above him. If he was having ludicrous mental images like that, then clearly he needed to give up for the night and sleep.

_Sleep._

Normally he would have showered, changed, and gone through his usual routine of ensuring that everything in his room was straightened and centered. If there was one thing that could keep him up at night, it was the thought of something within fifteen feet being even the slightest off centered. However, for once in a very long time, the very notion of getting up to even perform his usual check seemed too burdensome. Perhaps it was a sign of his slow, if gradual improvement over his symmetry obsession. Or perhaps he was feeling the full weight of the stress and exhaustion from the day—another uncommon sensation that only appeared once in a blue moon.

For several seconds he laid there before finally muttering, "Screw it," turning onto his side and closing his eyes before the words were out of his mouth.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN:**_ _This was a very difficult chapter as I had a lot of ideas and as this is written in a "real-time" type of flow, it was more or less like an info dump to help set up the future chapters. In the end, I cut and shifted several of the original portions so that they would appear or be mentioned in future chapters. _

_If you didn't figure out where Captain Morgan is based from, hope you caught it this time around! (From the rum company brand for those who don't know) Complete parody, though I can't really say if his character would be mine or not…:|a Oh well, disclaiming anyway: don't own the original Captain Morgan trademark |D I plan on attempting basing future prominent characters with other known fictional or legendary figures in the same fashion as Ohkubo does in canon. Speaking of which, another thing to mention is this follows the mangaverse rather than anime, so for those who have only watched the anime, some manga-specific references may be lost to you. However I really don't have a specific time in mind, so it's one of those random "AU" time points that all fics are set in. At the very least, it's after the Salvage (Book of Eibon) arc._

_I would also like to thank those who have left reviews. I actually did not realize I had any until I got the late email notifications earlier today. They have really helped inspire and motivate me, so I hope that I continue to live up to everyone's satisfaction, especially with such an ever expanding story like this. One of the big reasons why this chapter took so much reworking—ten different drafts—was because I kept thinking of new things to later incorporate. But I am fairly certain I have most of the basic major plot elements cemented down in my head so the next chapter should go a little more smoothly. I'm still taking my time and updates will be slow, but I do not see myself stopping anytime soon. _

_So thank you again! The next chapter should be faster and more action packed (and hopefully not longer, ah ha ha…)_


	3. Horde of Spiders

It Is What It Is

Chapter 3

_**Disclaimer:** I do not own Soul Eater or the characters._

* * *

><p>Equipped with hiking gear and light backpacks to carry the bare essentials, the team had spent most of the morning and early afternoon visiting the various small islands around St. George. So far they had been unable to detect anything out of the ordinary, least of all any signs of the kishin egg. It was both reassuring and frustrating. For Kid, he was glad that the nearby islands did not seem to be affected as it would otherwise mean that the population on the main island would have been in danger. For Liz, however, she would rather find the kishin egg and get the mission done and over with. And as for Patti, she was just enjoying exploring the outdoors.<p>

"Ugh, I _hate_ this stupid jungle," Liz snapped as she swatted at a gnat that hovered around her face.

"Forest," Kid corrected her for the umpteenth time that day. No matter how many times he corrected her, Liz continued to use the wrong terminology.

Rather than the traditional exotic jungle fauna and flora that most people would imagine on a (sub)tropical island, Bermuda's islands were filled with cedar trees and ferns with small mangrove swamps closer to the coast. There were also very little mammal life due to its isolated location. Only the birds, bats, reptiles, and insects were the natural residents, and any others had been introduced by human settlers. But this meant they could walk freely throughout the forests without fearing an animal attack in addition to any attacks from the kishin egg.

"Whoa, check out this bug!" Patti pointed to a rather large cicada as it flew past them before running after it. "It's huuuuuge!"

"Wait—Patti don't chase after it!" Liz groaned before suddenly shrieking, "_And don't touch it with your hands!_"

"Huh?" The younger sister turned around, holding the cicada right in front of Liz's face. "It's okay, it won't bite!" she grinned.

"_KEEP THAT AWAY FROM ME!_"

Kid could only let out a long sigh as Liz tried to hide behind him, forcefully shoving him this way and that as Patti tried to come around. At one point _he_ found himself staring squarely against the cicada as Patti laughed and pointed at her sister's distress. For a split second he felt a strange kinship with the insect. It being held captive by one sister. He a victim to the other sister's hold. Both forced into a strange confrontation. He almost felt sorry for it. Almost. If that antenna had not been shorter than the other then he may have held more sympathy.

"Gross, gross, gross, Kid _do_ something!" Liz begged from behind.

"Patti, let it go," he finally said in a dry, tired tone. "And stop running around. We don't know what could be around and I'd rather you not accidentally step on a snake."

"Okaaaaay," the younger girl said before skipping off to release the cicada back into the trees.

Kid felt Liz drop down to the ground behind him and half turned to look down at her. "I know you don't like bugs, but really?" he asked, unable to keep the dry disbelief out of his voice. He had seen her freak out over sillier things, but it was just a cicada.

"Shut up, I hate this place!" Liz shot back before rubbing her arms and flinching when saw several more large insects buzz by. "Can we go back to the resort and just relax on the beach?"

"Once we're done," he simply said before holding his hand out to her. "So the sooner you get up and we continue, the sooner we can return."

She only cast him a scowl before taking his hand, allowing him to pull her up before she resumed walking by his side, sticking a little closer than she normally would have. This particular island was a little farther out than the others and there had been actual testimony by some local fishermen of strange activity surrounding it. There were stories of people venturing into it and no one ever returning. It was also near the location where one of the recent wreckages had first washed ashore, making it a prime suspect for a location for the kishin egg. Of course, when Liz asked why they did not check this island first, Kid simply told her they might as well check the others just in case. She might have been more agreeable had they found _something_, but since there had been nothing, by the time the mid afternoon arrived, she half wished the kishin egg would just descend upon them now.

Kid was the first to notice the sound of running water, and after walking for another fifteen minutes, they soon approached a small stream of fresh water. Upon sight, Liz's face lit up as she ran forward.

"All right! Time for a break," she sang happily as she set her bag down, already pulling out her water bottle.

"Can we go swimming?" Patti followed, hopping along the bank. "Hey, there are fish here!"

"Wait—Liz, Patti! This isn't the time for a break," Kid protested as he approached them. "And you can swim when we get back." Maybe. It would of course depend on _when_ they got back.

"I am _dying_ from this humidity," Liz said heatedly, already undoing the laces to her boots. "You may be all fine and dandy with your special death god body, but I can feel the sweat sticking to my skin and I don't even want to think about what's happening to my hair."

He only frowned at the remark before relenting. It has true that it had been a long day and the humidity _had_ worsened over the afternoon. A little break would be better for all of them, and he could already hear his father's late night advice echo in his mind.

"All right, we can take a few minutes," he finally said, setting his backpack down next to theirs and straightening them to form a neat, little row. Satisfied, he looked around. The stream would be a viable water source and may hold some clues of recent activity if the kishin egg was here. "You two stay here and I'll check around the area," he told them as he made his way up the embankment.

"Right, right," Liz said as she kicked off her boots, took off her socks, rolled up her jeans, and dipped her aching feet into the soothing, cool shallow water. Patti was beside her gathering rocks and building some kind of rock castle. She even had a stick with a leaf as the flag ready.

After watching her meister's retreating back, Liz leaned back until she was fully lying back on the ground, arms crossed behind her head. Dirt or no, she was tired and willing to risk ruining her shirt. It was an old one, anyway. Staring upward, she watched a few birds fly overhead through the gaps between the treetops. A glance to her right revealed a long row of brush of exotic flowers in bloom with butterflies and dragonflies flittering by. At least those insects she could tolerate. The sound of the water was also actually quite pleasant, and except for the humidity, it was actually a nice day out.

Having grown up in the city and living as the "modern day material girl," she had never really been too fond of the outdoors. Bugs had always been the main problem, as well as the dirt, grime, and sweat that came along with it. With the serene environment around them, however, it was easy for Liz to momentarily forget they were on an island that could potentially house a dangerous kishin egg. She found herself starting to relax. Patti suddenly splashing her also did not help. At first the older girl had sat up yelling, but the sight of her sister laughing and playing in the water made her smile instead.

"Dammit, Patti!" she laughed and kicked a wave of water at her sister before standing and joining in. Soon the two were in an all out splash war, soaking each other by the time they were through. The water made the clothes stick to her skin even more, but it was cool and refreshing.

While Patti tried to catch a small fish with her bare hands, Liz stretched out and reached over to one of their backpacks. However, upon seeing a spider the width of her palm crawling around it, she froze. Kid had warned her that there were large spiders around, but she never thought she would actually see one _that _big.

_Okay, okay, I can _do _this_, she thought as she hastily looked around. Finding a nearby stick, she steadied herself and swiped the offending spider away before throwing the stick after it. Hey, it could have somehow latched onto it—or so her instincts told her. She had no idea where it landed, nor did she care, but after a quick, furtive examination, she did not see it anywhere near their bags.

"Ugh, I hate spiders," she muttered under her breath as she pulled out a small towel and started to dry herself off. Even though she was long since dead now, Liz could not help but remember the witch Arachne whenever she saw a spider. Other than being dangerous, the witch had been creepy in her books. Who would want to surround themselves with _spiders_? Shaking her head, she looked over to Patti.

"Look, sis!" the younger girl waved happily, holding up the large trout in her hands. "It's okay to eat it, right?"

As if understanding Patti's words, the fish struggled even harder, its body flapping wildly against her hands. Liz actually felt sorry for it.

Sighing she raised a hand to wave her off. "Patti, let it go, we're not going to eat it." She glanced at her watch. Had it really only been fifteen minutes? "Besides, Kid should be back soon so let's get you dried off."

"Fiiiine," she pouted. This was her second wild catch of the day, the third if she counted the turtle from yesterday morning. Were they ever going to let her keep anything? She sighed as she released the fish back into the water. "There you go, Mr. Fishy. Swim free!" she laughed, her attitude taking a complete one-eighty as she splashed the water after it.

"Hey—Patti stop splashing, you're getting _me_ wet again!" Liz shouted as she tried to shield herself.

With a wicked grin, Patti turned toward her sister. "HYAAAA!" she yelled as she sent more water at Liz.

"Wh—_Patti!_"

Farther downstream, unbeknownst to the two girls, there was another small splash as the trout Patti had caught flopped wildly around before it disappeared into the brush.

* * *

><p>Kid crouched over a set of tracks left behind on the still soft dirt. He had strayed away from the stream upon discovering the odd trail leading away from it. The indentations were set wide apart—about five feet—with smaller ones scattered around in-between. It was as if something smaller had been with whatever had made the larger set of tracks. Or rather, a lot of something's. The further he went on, the more of the tracks he saw and the more haphazard the indentations were. There were also small drag marks here and there.<p>

It was puzzling as he could not think of what could have made them. Staring down the path, he noticed the tracks led down toward a darker portion of the forest. Even more troubling, he could feel the faint traces of Madness from the direction. Frowning, he stood, still staring down the path. Where there was Madness, there was likely a kishin egg. Perhaps this really was where the bat kishin egg had been.

With one last glance he turned and made his way back, using the trial as a guide. Just before he neared the stream, he heard something drop nearby, leaves and small twigs snapping as the object crashed through them. Tensing, he quickly looked around. Finding nothing, he wondered if perhaps a bird or a small resident of the tree had slipped and fallen. It was rare, but not impossible. He was about to resume forward when a scent caught his attention. A scent of dead, rotting fish.

Eyes narrowing, he stepped closer to the source and found to his disgust the remains of what looked like a trout. It had been completely gutted with only the skin and bits of its entrails remaining. From the large, gaping hole in its side, he could see where the predator had sucked everything out. Glancing upward he found no trace of what had dropped it. It could have been a bird, but what bird eats like _that_?

_A bat…? No, it's too large for that and even a bat wouldn't leave that behind. …Unless… _The kishin egg? But that made no sense either. As far as he knew, there was only one: the one that had devolved into a bat-like form. Was there another that Morgan and the others were unaware of? Unable to stomach the sight or smell any longer, he looked away as he wrestled over his thoughts. It was then that he felt something soft like a hair waft into his face. Plucking it out, he stared at it for a moment, his fingers gently running along the material.

"Spider web?" he mused aloud before letting the wind take it from his outstretched fingers. For a brief moment he wondered if a spider had been the culprit. There were species of spiders that made their homes right above small ponds to caught and ate small fish. But again—as big as a trout?

Before he could think further, he heard a scream followed by several rounds of gunshots.

"Liz…Patti! Dammit!" he swore under his breath as he bolted, reprimanding himself for leaving them alone for as long as he did. Having not sensed any danger and knowing the lack of dangerous wildlife, he had thought they would be safe by the stream. But as he recalled the faint traces of Madness from before, his pace quickened. No, there _was _something on the island. He had just been unable to sense it.

As he stumbled through the dense overgrowth in his haste back to the girls, he heard Liz shouting and more shots fired. "Liz!" he shouted as he approached, only to freeze when he saw the carnage around her. The corpses of three…no _five_ spiders the size of small horses lay around the bank as Liz stood terrified in the middle of the stream, Patti transformed into her weapon form in the older girl's hands.

"K-Kid!" Liz cried in relief. "They—they just suddenly appeared and—"

"Just throw Patti over and transform, now!" he commanded. The noise would have attracted more, and they would not be able to defend against subsequent attacks in their current positions.

With a feeble nod, she did as was told. First she threw Patti toward Kid before closing her eyes and transforming, her mind focused right where she wanted to be: in Kid's right hand and _away_ from the dead spiders. With his usual flare, Kid deftly caught both weapons simultaneously in mid-air, the guns spinning around his pinkies before he shifted into one of his stances, his arms crossed over one another with both barrels pointing in opposite directions. As usual, Patti was excited—in fact he was certain that he heard her let out a "Whoohoo!" before he caught her. Liz, on the other hand was still badly shaken and it was affecting their resonance. He could feel the erratic pulses of her soul wavelength jerking against his steadier wavelength.

"Liz, what happened?" he asked as he tried to calm her down, eyes drifting from one corpse to the next. She had really done a number on them, but despite her frantic state he could see that she still managed to focus her shots on the vital areas. He could also see where the two had exchanged positions. The ones Patti killed had a few legs missing and more soul bullet holes.

"We were just…I was…" Recalling the memory already sent her shaking.

"Breathe, Liz," he said firmly, but in a soothing way as he started to walk back toward the cover of the forest.

Closing her eyes, she took a moment to do as he said: breathe. It was then that she could feel his soul wavelength reaching for hers and realize that she had been making it difficult for him. He was worried about her—she knew that. She was grateful, comforted, and a little ashamed. Although it was always easy for her to connect to her sister even when she was high strung, it still took a little more time with Kid, no matter how she really felt. It was almost as if she was afraid to have him see how truly weak she was during these times.

"Okay…" she started, a slight quiver in her voice but it was still stronger than before, "while you were gone, Patti and I were just chilling by the stream and I was starting to dry us off when I saw…saw these _eyes_ staring right at us from across the bank. And then all these _spiders_ just appeared out of nowhere!"

"Sis ran so fast it was funny!" Patti laughed, to which Kid only gave the weapon a side glance.

"This isn't the time to make fun of your sister," he said dryly before glancing back at Liz. He could feel her soul panicking again. "You weren't hurt, were you?" Now away from the stream, he turned so that she could no longer see the spiders. He had expected more to appear, but the gunshots and the sight of their brethren dead and poisoning the water may have dissuaded them. For now, at least.

Though he could not see it, she shook her head. "No…I mean they tried to—I don't know—spit? But Patti and I managed to avoid that."

"Spit?" Kid furrowed his brows. "Most likely poison."

At the though of almost being poisoned, Liz shuddered. "Kid, what_ were_ they? I mean—they were huge! And their eyes were all red and glowing and, ugh they couldn't have been normal, right?"

"No…no they're not normal," he said, his voice trailing as he looked back. From where he stood he could feel faint traces of Madness still lingering on the corpses. It was clear they had been infected by Madness, which was the likely cause of their unnatural growth. But he could not sense any corrupted souls. In fact, he could not pick up anything at all. The souls of animals did not linger as humans did, so perhaps they had already disappeared. "You're not going to like this, Liz, but I may have an idea where the nest is."

"_Nest?_" she shrieked. "No. No no no—_Kid_, please no!"

"You know I can't just leave this island knowing that there are dangerous creatures such as these around. What if they managed to get onto the main island? What if those stories about people never returning from this island were true and these spiders were the reasons for it?"

"Tell them not to come here anymore, put a giant warning sign—I don't know! And these things are too big and heavy to swim, right?"

"Just close your eyes," Kid simply said as he started walking back toward where he had stumbled upon the trail and ignored the sounds of protest coming from his right hand.

* * *

><p>"Ah, they're going in."<p>

"Should we kill them?"

"Nah. They don't stand a chance."

"But isn't that the death god's son?"

"The symmetry freak? Yeah."

"Isn't that bad, then?"

"Not like it matters. Think of this as a good test run."

"The boss might not like it."

"Whatever. We got our own priorities."

"Heh. Maybe it would be better if he survives to see it."

"Already imagining his face? Creep."

"Like you're any better."

"Touché."

"Come on. Let's go before he notices."

The wind rustled through the tops of the trees, carrying the voices away along with it.

* * *

><p>As Kid walked further into the forest, there were several times when he stopped and pointed the guns toward anything that made a sound: the rustling brush, a branch snapping. But it was not until they had reached the entrance did he stop and his senses heightened. Given the sight before him, it was no wonder.<p>

At first the forest had seemed relatively normal, but now it was more twisted and the sense of danger lingered around them. The sounds of the birds and ground dwellers had diminished until it was only the harsh rustle of leaves as a cold wind blew past—a wind that carried the scent of death and decay. The trees were the most visible sign of disturbance, from the dead, ashen brown leaves to the withered charcoal bark. Even the branches were twisted in unnatural positions. Looking upward, Kid at first thought he was seeing Spanish moss hanging from the boughs. But as he slowly stepped forward, the leaves crunching beneath his feet, he realized it was not moss, but cobwebs.

Large, long streams of cobwebs.

"Stay alert," he said in a low voice. Although he could not see them, he knew the spiders could. It was likely they were being watched now.

"Okay!" came Patti's usual cheer followed by a more feeble and nervous "Yeah" from Liz.

As Kid continued onward, the scene only worsened as the Madness strengthened. Eventually entire trees were covered in spider webbing, the broken, dead branches suspended in air only by the thick, sticky layers. They even covered the treetops, blocking most of the sunlight to create an even darker and haunted atmosphere. He could only imagine how it looked from above. Every now and then bits of webbing would break and fly toward Kid, and he quickly stepped away to avoid contact. He tried to tread lightly and watched where he stepped. Even the ground was covered in webbing, some patches thicker than others. The last thing he wanted to do was accidentally step on some trap or get his leg caught in the sticky substance. But what made him suddenly look down was not the fear of stepping on a trap. It was the sharp _crunch_ as he felt something solid break beneath the heel of his hiking boot.

Quickly stepping back, he stared down and froze. An animal skeleton he could have easily imagined. But it was not the bones of some poor bird or fish. No.

It was a piece of a fractured human skull that had been covered by a layer of spider webbing.

"Oh shit…oh _shit_," he heard Liz's whispered screams, but it was her next words that made him look up. "Kid—_they're hanging!_"

Looking up, he could only see more masses of thick spider webbing; the white strings crisscrossed this way and then like a net. But when he looked carefully through the webs, his eyes widened in horror. Just like the trees, wrapped in thick spider webbing were the corpses of humans. The clothes were bloodied and torn but still clung onto the remaining flesh and bones. Pilot uniforms, navy uniforms, casual clothes, Bahama palm tree T-shirts—all likely sucked dry from the inside out.

As he continued to stare upward, voices pounded in his ear—the screams and pleas for help. Unable to tear his eyes away, he could only watch as the faces moved toward him, their dried, hollow mouths moving. Slowly the bodies started to come alive. Broken and disfigured limbs writhed within the webbing. Bony fingers clawed from the inside as they moaned.

_Save us! Help us! Son of Death, release us!_

_Click_.

Red eyes.

…_Kid._

Hundreds of red eyes.

_Click click click_.

_Help us!_

_Hiss_.

Tap tap tap.

Dead faces.

Voices.

Dead bodies.

Skeletal hands grabbing at his clothes.

_Death! Death! Death!_

Clawing.

…_Kid!_

Gasping.

_Help us!_

Red eyes.

Moaning.

Limbs restrained by the thick spider web.

_Save us!_

Tearing.

Ripping.

**Feed** **us**.

Three vertical eyes.

**Click**.

"KID!"

Gasping he jumped back and with a yell he blindly fired a hail of soul bullets ahead of him. As the smoke cleared, he stared at the writhing spider, its legs flailing before stilling. His own body still shaking, he looked wildly around him, eyes wide in terror. The remains were still as they were. The voices were gone. There was nothing on his body.

Nothing had moved. Nothing had changed.

Only the spider had slowly descended during his paralyzed state.

"Fuck—Kid, what the hell!" Liz yelled at him, though her own shaking voice muted the anger of her words. "Don't just stand there!"

"I…" For some reason his mouth was dry and he had to take a few breaths before he could finally regain control.

Madness. He had been affected by the Madness.

But before he could say anything else, the chilling sound of clicks and soft taps filled the air. It started with one and then increased by hundredfold as the glow of red eyes lit up around them.

There was a tense moment of silence as yellow eyes stared into the sea of red that glittered ahead, knuckles white as hands clenched the twin guns. He was holding his breath.

Above, some loose, frayed webbing gave way.

A severed hand fell to the ground with a muted thud.

And then the webbed forest erupted.

In an ear piercing chorus of high pitched, unearthly screams, the spiders descended from the trees, emerged from the ground, and burst through the brush as they ran headlong toward him, the long, spindly legs quickly covering ground. Immediately he fired, the unfortunate targets shrieking before falling back, all eight legs flailing while another hopped over it or worse—proceeded to encase it in webbing for later consumption.

"Kid, on your left!" Patti yelled and he immediately swung his arm out, firing shots as he moved backward.

In his mind he was berating himself for his carelessness. The reason why they had not been attacked prior to this was because the spiders acted like all spiders do: wait until their prey walked into their trap. And that was exactly what he had done. He had walked right into the heart of their nest. Holding out his right hand, he quickly summoned Beelzebub and jumped onto it, the demonic skateboard immediately taking flight just before a spider landed on top of him.

Carefully maneuvering through the spider webbed trees, Kid continued to shoot at any spider that managed to get too close for comfort, including those that ran above along the makeshift webbed ceiling. He even had to take sharp twists and turns as a few spat out webbing at him in an attempt to catch him. A glance behind told him he was leaving many dead, but more continued to replace them. There was not a moment where he was not shooting, his arms twisting back to try and catch any that were directly behind him before wildly firing in every direction. It was inelegant and erratic, but he had little choice. There were just too many.

"Look out!" Liz suddenly shouted, but it came a moment too late.

A spider had leaped through an underground trap. Kid turned just in time to avoid getting bitten, but was still slammed to the ground. The sound of a sizzling hiss next to his ear made him realize that its saliva was more than just poisonous—it was acidic. And he was staring right into its mouth, the fangs clicking and chomping as it tried to reach him. It was only thanks to his inhuman strength that he was able to restrain it from coming within inches of his face, but he could see more saliva starting to drip down. After wrestling for several tense seconds, the spider managed to catch his left arm, biting down hard.

Kid let out a yell as he felt the poison and burning liquid enter his flesh and enter his bloodstream. He could feel his body immediately reject it, his immunity working against the invading substance. But even so, acid, poison, paralysis—he could feel it all as his arm started to momentarily numb. Gritting his teeth, he kicked up into the spider's abdomen before bringing his right arm around and fired several bullets through the side of its head. The force sent the spider flying sideways, allowing him to scramble back. As he staggered upright, he hissed in pain and brought up his injured arm. The wound was deep, blood streaming through the pierced skin, and the infected area had grown to the cover his entire lower arm.

Liz paled when she saw it. "Kid—"

"I'll be fine," he interrupted before gritting his teeth. Having an immortal body had its perks, but that did not mean acid and poison still did not hurt like a bitch. He had to close his eyes as the pain of both the injury and his body healing pulsed through his arm. "It'll heal—don't worry about me and focus!" he yelled before shooting down two more spiders.

Running back over to the skateboard, he resumed their mad flight through the forest. As the spider webs thinned, so did the spiders. Fewer and fewer of them continued to give chase, some even stopped and just raised their two front legs, hissing in anger before slowly retreating back into the forest. Eventually he burst through the remaining stretch and never before had he been glad to feel the warmth of the sun.

Landing, he took the moment to catch his breath and look back at where they had come. He could still hear the angry clicks and hissing, but they were distant. By now the pain in his arm had dulled to a pounding throb, but the blood continued to stream out. He may have had an immortal body, but that did mean he could leave injuries like this completely untreated. Ripping off the torn left sleeve, he cast it away before ripping off his right. A grim memory flashed through his mind as he recalled performing a similar action before. This time, however, he used the fabric of the uninfected sleeve to serve as a hasty bandage. He would have to deal with the asymmetry of it for now.

But as Kid turned around, he froze. They had left the forest, but they were not by the stream where he had expected. Instead, the clearing he found himself in was in its own way more horrific than the nest he had just escaped from, and most likely why the spiders had retreated.

Stretched out before him was the largest spider web he had ever seen. It spread from the widest portion of the clearing, which he estimated to be at least one hundred feet. Scattered around it were the corpses and skeletons of its prey, still wrapped in their webbed cocoons. Humans, large birds, even other spiders littered the strands of webbing. Patches of dead grass littered the ground. What was more disturbing was the web's design. In the very center staring right at him were three vertical eyes. The eyes that symbolized Madness and insanity itself: the Kishin. Even just looking at it Kid could feel his sense of reality becoming distorted.

Just like back at the nest.

The realization shot through him like a lightning bolt. The spider webs had been laced with Madness, and the high volume and chaos had thrown his own senses off. Although it was not as smothering as back at the nest, it was enough and it was the source.

Immediately he started shooting the web, the strands snapping and falling with each shot. He tried to aim at where he thought it was weakest and shot low in hopes of making the upper portions fall. He had some mild success, but it was stronger than he thought. Even worse, he thought he saw portions of it reconnecting back together. At first he thought it was the Madness playing its mind tricks again, but then he realized they really _were_ reconnecting. Firing multiple rounds was not going to work. He was going to need to do this in one shot.

"Liz, Patti," he started as he shifted stances. "Prepare to—"

Before he could finish, however, there was a loud earsplitting shriek followed by the sound of trees crashing down. A giant, black shadow jumped through the trees, felling many as it did before it landed dead center in-between the web and Kid. The earth shook so hard, he staggered to keep his balance.

It was yet another spider, but at a height of at least forty feet. This was most likely the queen of the nest. With its sleek, black body, Kid was reminded more of a black widow, which would be apt given their circumstances. Thick, slimy green acidic saliva dripped from its fangs, the ground hissing as the grass withered and died upon contact. Its spindly legs were covered in old and new webbing, most likely from its own web. But there were two other features that Kid noticed—features that sent alarms running through his body.

_One_.

With its abdomen was arched up, Kid could clearly see that on its back, located at the very center, was a red symbol. A symbol that matched the one on the web.

A symbol he had seen briefly back at the nest but had not been able to recall it until just a few moments ago.

The three vertical eyes of the Kishin.

And it pulsed with pure Madness.

_Two_.

He did not need to use Soul Perception to know that the spider was unlike the smaller ones they had just fought and escaped. Again, he had been unable to detect any discernable soul, but here he could feel the strong, pounding waves beating against him. A soul wavelength he had not expected nor could believe. Every living creature had a soul, including insects such as spiders. But unlike humans, whether an animal consumed a human or its own kin, it made no difference as it was the way of their natural world. There was no sense of good or evil, right or wrong. In fact, it was unusual for an animal to consume the soul of its prey. But this was different. This spider was—

"A Kishin egg," he breathed in pure disbelief. Such a thing was supposed to be impossible. This was not the natural order of the soul or the world. But he could feel it. He could feel the remnants of the spider's natural soul, but it was still without a doubt a Kishin egg.

"_What?_" Liz yelled. Even without hearing his words, she had already felt the shock through his soul. "But—you mean that's the one we're after? I thought it was supposed to look like a bat!"

"No, this is different." His eyes never left the spider that stood before them. "This is not a corrupted human who has devolved and taken the form of a spider. It is a spider with a corrupted soul filled with Madness."

He had managed to tear his eyes away from the brilliant red vertical eyes that beckoned him and instead focused on the creature's _real_ eyes, all eight of them. Briefly he had to admire the perfect symmetry and order of them, and he then realized that the spider's body was in fact perfectly symmetrical. Its legs were of the same height and set at an even distance from one another. Even the size and shape of its fangs were perfectly even. And, most of all, the spider was a symbol to his favorite number: eight. But despite the perfections, the spider's twisted and unnatural soul overrode whatever desire there may have been to not damage it. Not even the Madness would be able to distract him from that.

"Get ready," Kid suddenly said as he stepped back onto Beelzebub, much to Liz's horror and Patti's delight.

"Are you _insane_? How are you going to fight with that arm?"

"It's already healing." He held it up to her and flexed it a bit as proof. It still hurt, but he would be able to manage.

Liz was not convinced. "Look at how huge that thing is!"

"Whooo! We're gonna crush a giant spider! Think it'll explode?" Patti suddenly cheered, not paying attention to the exchange between her sister and Kid. Although she, too, was concerned about his safety, she could feel the strength still within his grip and that was good enough for her.

"Patti, be serious for once!"

"Spider guts! Spider guts!"

Throughout their exchange, Kid only focused on the spider, his mind drowning out their voices. It was indeed massive and, as Liz suggested, he was probably insane for taking it on with no additional support. There was enough Madness around to induce it. But he was determined and with a tentative plan in mind, he made the first move as he shot forward, soul bullets already flying. Immediately the spider hopped and danced away, seemingly agile despite its large size. Around the spider he flew, shooting at its legs and lower body. Those that hit left smoking burn marks on the carapace. In response it would let out a hiss and skitter back before jumping forward for its own counterattack, legs reaching out to try and swipe at the young death god before spitting at him.

With well practiced agility, Kid dodged each attack, using the bottom of his skateboard as a shield against the acidic spit. Like him, the demonic skateboard was able to withstand the attacks, but not without some damage. He was going to have to rebuff and repaint it when they returned. But slowly he could see that his attacks were at least having some affect. One leg looked severely burned and it was clear that the spider was starting to favor it. He had even managed to shoot out two of its eyes—one on each side, of course.

However it was not a one-sided battle. Several times he had to maneuver around to avoid both acidic and webbing attacks. At one point some of the webbing actually grazed his already injured arm, the acidic saliva that lined it burning through the makeshift bandage and onto his skin. It reopened the wounds that had closed up and was more potent than the last. Again he could feel a twinge of paralysis trying to take hold and again his immortal body's resistance pulled through. Still, he faltered for a moment, and it was enough to provide an opportunity for the spider to take a swipe with its leg and send him flying into a nearby cedar tree before he crashed into the ground below. The force of the impact was so great, the tree cracked and shook.

Slowly he got to his knees, coughing and spitting out blood as he felt a sharp sting in his chest. Broken or bruised, he was certain that a few ribs had been damaged. But again, it would only take a few hours for them to mend on their own, less than that if they were just bruised. It helped that he had experienced a number of similar attacks and his body had grown more accustomed and was able to quickly respond.

Gathering his strength, he staggered upright, his strength and determination pushing down whatever pain he felt. After taking another labored breath, he ran to where the skateboard had fallen, firing several rounds as he did. He leaped onto it and shot forward just before the spider could step down, its leg digging deep into the ground. Taking a sharp turn, he flew underneath the massive body, firing upward before weaving out between its legs. He made another pass and the stream of soul bullets pierced the thinner carapace before he quickly flew out as the spinnerets released a stream of webbing toward him.

The spider was now crouched low, as if to protect its badly damaged underside from another attack. The carapace having been broken through, green ooze dripped from several points. Unable to go low, Kid ascended high into the air. As he flew directly over the spider's back, he happened to look down and found himself staring once more into the three vertical eyes. Immediately he heard the voices and the sounds of corpses tearing through their webbed coffins again, but he fought it off. With a yell he pushed the sounds away and released a hail of soul bullets down, aiming right at the accursed symbol.

As if expecting Kid to succumb to the Madness instead, the spider shrieked as the condensed soul wavelengths pierced through the carapace. Smoke rose from its scorched back and like its underside, green ooze seeped through the wounds. As it struggled to stand, Kid flew over the web and skidded to a halt behind it. He was directly center and facing the large vertical eyes etched into the webbing. But instead of looking at the eyes, he looked _through _them to the spider. They were not perfectly aligned, but he would deal with it.

"Liz! Patti!" he shouted, arms outstretched.

"Ready!" they responded and immediately the trio activated their Soul Resonance.

As Kid's soul expanded, the signature black skulls swirling around him, his eyes remained focused on his target. Shoot through the webbing and through the spider. Two targets. One shot. By now both weapons had transformed, his arms held straight forward as the two large barrels gathered his energy.

The spider was almost up.

"Ready in four…"

It was now standing, the legs struggling but soon had its balance.

"…three…"

In rage it turned to face Kid who remained motionless where he stood.

"…two…"

The ground shook as it ran, each of its eight legs pounding into the earth.

"…one!"

It leaped—

"_Death Cannon!_"

* * *

><p>"Ah, he did it."<p>

_Thud._

"Maybe we should have killed him."

"Nah, this is more fun."

_Scrape_.

_Scrape_.

"Hey, you're letting it spill."

"Whatever, they'll clean it up later."

"Shame, too. I think this is my finest work."

"How do you live with yourself?"

_Thud._

_Squirt._

"Same reason you're always here."

"Point."

_Drag._

Pause.

"Damn, I need some more."

"Just make it smaller."

"But it won't look as good."

"Do you think they'll care? We have to get back soon."

"Fine, fine."

_Chop._

* * *

><p>The large volume of condensed soul energy shot out with its usual explosive bang, the smoke and black skulls trailing in its wake. It shot dead center through the spider web, tearing the strands apart before it caught the spider in mid-air and burst straight through it. Just like Patti wanted, it practically exploded. Green liquid, parts of the carapace, organs, pus, webbing, acid—it all rained down. Kid took several jumps back to avoid stray parts, such as the leg that fell only a few feet from him.<p>

Through the rain of spider innards, he studied the remaining parts of the spider web. He had managed to completely sever it, and although several of the strands tried to reconnect, most of it had dried and grayed. It was not until it completely fell to the ground did he finally relax. In the distance he could hear the chorus of unearthly shrieks and screams, and he knew that the nest was also dying. With the source gone, there was nothing left to sustain it—or so he theorized.

The threat of danger now eliminated and guts no longer falling from the sky, Liz and Patti transformed back into their human forms and watched as he stepped through the mess and crouched over the destroyed spider web. Slowly Kid reached down and carefully fingered a piece. He could feel small traces of Madness and poison, but it was quickly receding. Within seconds, it crumbled to harmless dust. Satisfied he then straightened and stared at the floating red soul hovering where it the spider had once been. Extending his hand, Kid drew it toward him, pulling at that invisible string until it was floating an inch above his hand. He could still feel the Madness swirling within it.

"Hey…doesn't it look a little different?" Liz said as Kid returned to them, peering at it closely.

"Most likely because it was from an insect's soul rather than a human's," Kid answered, eyes narrowing as he continued to study it. Now that it was in his hand, he could take a more careful examination. It was red and fractured similar to the standard corrupted soul, but the pattern was completely different. Black lines that resembled spider webbing wrapped around the soul, as if representing the type of creature it once was. It was thinner and stained with black splotches, as if it the soul had suffered some kind of cancerous disease. Most of all, it was unstable. It would have been a matter of time before it burst.

"Can we eat it?" Patti asked curiously, extending a finger to poke it.

"No," Kid quickly answered and the soul disappeared into his hand before she could. "I will hold onto it for now until Father has looked into it. Plus I'd rather not risk your souls or lives in the case that this is something poisonous to you."

"Speaking of risking lives," Liz said, her voice hardening. "Kid, how is _this _fine?" she said as she forcefully grabbed his left wrist and held the damaged arm up. The makeshift bandage was soaked in blood and was falling apart.

"Ow—Liz, hey!" Kid winced as he let out a sharp hiss of pain. "I told you, it will heal. Look, some of it has already regenerated," he snapped, gesturing to the outer edges where the skin had healed over. It was a stomach churning green, but it was healing. "It should be fine by tomorrow morning."

"Well at least rewrap it or something," she insisted. "At least so I don't have to see it."

"Let's go back to the stream then," he said as he pulled his arm away from her, studying it. It really was disgusting and though he did not have to worry about infections, cleaning it would be a good idea. "Our bags are still there, anyway."

Somewhat satisfied, Liz nodded. Once more the girls transformed, but this time it was more of a precautionary course of action as well as for ease of travel as Kid kicked up Beelzebub. He soared high over the trees, and from his vantage point he could see how much of the forest had actually been infected. Not too far from where they were, he could see a large patch of trees that were completely covered with the spider webbing. A large, cancerous blight to an otherwise lush forest. Flying in closer he could see that as he suspected, the webbing was graying and withering away. The high density still made the area a red zone, but it would be neutralized by the end of the day.

As he also suspected, the bodies of dead spiders littered the ground. However, he was surprised when they, too, started to crumble. First the body would erupt and be encased in spider webbing before collapsing upon itself. It was strange, but for the first time since he first stepped foot into the forest, he realized why he never felt their presence before.

They never had a soul.

Puzzled, he descended lower until he heard the crash of the leftover bodies hitting the ground. It was then that he recalled the clothing.

"Liz, Patti, do you remember what the victims were wearing?"

"Do we _really_ have to think about that now?" Liz whined.

"I remember! One looked like a pirate!" Patti responded gleefully. As usual she was the complete opposite of her sister.

"Do you remember if any were wearing pilot uniforms?" Kid asked as he quickly glanced through the trees. He tried to see if he could see one, but the thick webbing made it impossible. With the forest decaying, it was also too dangerous to venture back in until it had settled. He only hoped the bodies would remain somewhat intact.

Liz groaned, but she said, "…Yeah. I think so. Why?"

"We'll need Captain Morgan and other agents to gather the bodies," he answered, his face grim. "I think I know where the bodies of those missing sailors ended up, or at least some of them."

"Wait…you mean…those were them?"

"It's a good possibility, but we'll need to find out."

Kid resumed his flight back toward the stream. The spiders there had also disappeared, patches of cobwebs the only evidence of their existence. After grabbing all three bags, he adjusted them so that he was wearing his on his back and carrying one on each arm. Not wanting to remain at the site of carnage (he had enough of spiders for a while), he flew farther upstream and away from the path to the nest. After landing, Liz transformed back out first and immediately told Kid to sit before she dug through her bag for their medical supplies. Again he protested, saying he could do it himself, but this time Liz had Patti on her side.

"Be a good patient for the doctor, Kid!" Patti giggled as she held him down with his good arm.

"This is completely unnecessary," he continued to protest. "I can do it myself."

"Kid, this is _you_ we're talking about. We'll be here until the morning if we left you to do it yourself."

Unfortunately, she had a point. He really would take forever to make sure his bandages were perfectly set and matched. "Let's just get this done and over with," Kid sighed before glancing up. "It will be evening soon and the agents will be waiting for us at the rendezvous point."

However, he was less worried about being late and more about the possibility of their fight attracting unwanted attention. If the bat kishin egg were to appear now, they would be at a disadvantage with his current injuries. He did not tell Liz, but though it would certainly heal, the pain and burns had actually worsened after their Soul Resonance. It was strange and he could only attribute it to the chemicals of the acid. Regardless, he would rather fight the kishin egg at their peak condition and not risk it. With night drawing near, they would also be at a disadvantage.

"They can wait," Liz said, oblivious to Kid's concerns as she proceeded to wet a towel to wipe off all the grime and dead skin.

He cringed as he felt the sting. "I'm going to need to change before we return to town."

"I packed a spare shirt for you," she said idly as she started to spread some ointment around the infected areas. "You can just put it over your current shirt."

Kid looked at her in surprise. "When did you…?"

"While you were busy trying to spread the butter on your toast evenly this morning." It really was not hard to find some opportunity to do something without Kid's knowing.

"Hm."

Despite his initial protest, Kid found himself relaxing and just patiently sat there, allowing Liz to continue wrapping his arm. Patti had long since left them, returning to the water to try and catch another fish. With the current threats eliminated, they could take the time to settle their nerves and start returning to some sense of normalcy. Their mission was far from over, but after the hell they just went through, he felt they all deserved some kind of break.

It also gave time for the older girl to calm as well. She was usually fine after their missions, but none had been harrowing or terrifying as this. When they had landed and she had transformed, Liz was relieved—so relieved that her fingers had trembled at first when she started treating Kid's arm. Now she was calm. She knew what she was doing would not make too much of a difference. But even so, she continued. No matter how many times they fought or how many times Kid was injured, despite knowing that he would heal, her human conscience would always worry. Even if it was more of a formality at this point, it at least gave _her_ some peace of mind. So when she moved onto his right arm, despite her complaint about this being the most ridiculous thing, she looked between the two arms and took painstaking care to make sure the right was wrapped just the same as the other. It was less about pleasing Kid and more so she could get it done correctly the first time and not waste three hours redoing it ten or more times.

In the end it took two tries, with Kid intervening at several points and forcing her to redo portions of the bandage. But he was now examining both of his bandage wrapped arms with a satisfactory smile. She had wrapped the entire length of his lower arm, from his wrist to his elbow, and each one matched perfectly. He even felt the dull throbbing pain from his left arm receding faster than it had before.

"Nicely done," he said.

"You look like a mummy," Liz snorted with a smirk before handing him the spare shirt.

"And whose fault is that?" he quipped as he took it. "You covered more than you needed to."

"So I was being thorough. Sue me."

"Actually I might," Kid said as he pulled his arms through the sleeves and started buttoning it down over his current one. He actually wanted to just toss the entire thing altogether it was so riddled with burns and grime. But he knew that if Liz saw the other damage he had sustained, he would be there all day and really would turn into a mummy. "Did you know you spent $962.73 yesterday during your little shopping spree?"

"Oh really? Whoops," she said in her usual "I don't care" tone she used whenever the topic of money and spending came up. With the prospect of returning back to the resort on the horizon and the stress of battle now gone, the girl's mood had lifted considerably.

"Liz, Father is taking it out of _my_ allowance," he continued, the look of displeasure clear on his face.

"So? Besides, aren't we supposed to meet some agents or something?"

The two stared at each other, or rather Kid continued to stare hard at her while Liz continued to give him her uncaring, nonchalant look. In the end, logic won out.

After giving Liz one last look, he turned toward the stream. "Let's go, Patti!"

Once they had gathered their belongings, the girls transformed and for the last time that day, they took off on the demonic skateboard and flew to the rendezvous point. By now the sleepy sun was slowly setting, the skies a deep orange red with the darkness of the night slowly blending in. As Liz looked out, she took in a deep breath. Being out in the ocean and flying freely as they were—it was always an exhilarating feeling. She would rather enjoy the moment lying on the deck of a boat or on the beach rather than stuck in her weapon form, but this worked just as well.

Kid, on the other hand, focused less on the picturesque sunset and more on the distant islands they had yet to search. Were there more strange kishin eggs residing there as well? How did it even come to be? And how could the other agents not have at least noticed the spider webs that covered the forest? Had they not done any aerial surveillance? These thoughts and more circled through his mind as they neared the small island where the agents were waiting for their return and would take them back to the main island.

But when he approached, the sea breeze carried a scent that forced him to swerve to a sudden stop several hundred feet shy of the beach line, a large of wave of water splashing up from the jets beneath the skateboard. When he looked ahead, his eyes widened and he immediately brought his arms behind his back.

"Kid?" Liz asked frowning before looking over at Patti. The younger sister shrugged but she looked just as confused. They could both feel the change in their meister's soul and he was clenching the guns just as tightly as he had back at the spider nest.

"Don't look," was all he said, his voice dry and strained.

On the beach, written in blood, dismembered body parts, and bone was the following message:

_greeTINgs dEAth_

_wELcOMe To beRmudA :)_

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN:**_ _Side note, technically the smiley face would not be sideways and instead be a properly positioned smiley, but oh the limitations of FF. _

_I think each chapter gets longer and longer (for the record, this is just over seventeen pages without the notes. …oops). I actually considered splitting the chapter in half, but I wasn't really satisfied at any of the possible breaks. I did include little breaks with the "mystery dialogue" both for plot purpose as well as to help break the otherwise intense flow of the chapter. But if long chapters aren't your thing…I'm sorry! I wish I could say the next one will be shorter, but I honestly have no idea. Maybe at least seven? Meep. _

_Another warning: if you do not like gore or the like, it's not going to get any better. I tend to get detailed about such graphic depictions. But it should not go into the "Horror" genre…at least I hope. _

_Also, I am using a crap ton of headcanon now with the animal souls, so if this ends up being counter to canon…oops. I invoke creative license…? Haha… Then again…well it might work out either way. At any rate, there will be other points in the future where I am just completely making things up that may or may not be true to canon, but I'll try to make it as "realistically" plausible as possible. _

_Thanks for reading! _


	4. Light the Fuse and Burn it Up

It Is What It Is

Chapter 4

_**Disclaimer: **I do not own Soul Eater or any of its characters. _

* * *

><p>It was wrong.<p>

All wrong.

But what made it wrong was not the odd lettering.

He could care less about the fact that not all of the letters were of the same size or the same format.

He could care less that some letters were formed by bones and others with bits of flesh and others with pieces of organs and others an unholy combination of all.

He could care less that what should have been a pristine, picturesque landscape was ruined and stained red with blood, the nearby tress still dripping from the splatter.

No, that was not what was wrong.

The scene itself, the horrific sight of bits and pieces of what had once been human beings scattered about and used for such a petty and meaningless purpose, the complete disregard to the sanctity of the human being—_that_ was what was wrong.

As the rotting stench of the sun cooked flesh reached him, Kid had to turn away and cover his face with his sleeve. The water's surface reflected his look wide eyed look of revulsion.

Although he had told them not to look, he knew it would only be a matter of time before the girls would either sense or see scene on their own. Liz's choked scream and Patti's chilled silence only confirmed it. For several long seconds they hovered above the water, the sound of the ocean waves and the hum of the skateboard jets a hollow reminder of how far out they really were.

"We're going in." Kid finally spoke. "…Close your eyes if you can't take it."

There was no response, but he knew his weapons were still on the alert. He could feel their soul wavelengths tightening. There was uncertainty, doubt, fear—but there was also a strong desire to stay together. As if they knew that the only source of comfort and security they had was with each other.

"Don't worry, Kid," Patti finally said. "We got your back!"

"Yeah…" Liz agreed, though her voice was far less energetic than Patti's.

He only gave them a small glance before tightening his grip and flew toward the carnage that awaited them. Approaching the beach he could see the boat still tied to the makeshift pier. It was filled however, with thick, red blood. Bits of clothing floated along the surface, including a torn Shibusen arm badge. Quickly he averted his gaze and turned to the words left on the sands.

As he passed over it, he could better see the message in detail. Despite the mess surrounding it, the letters were neat and set in a precise manner. It was as if the writer specifically designed the layout just for him. Pristine "penmanship" settled within a bed of bloody chaos. He only spared a few seconds to fully take it in before he entered the inner forest. Although navigating through the trees would be difficult, he rather stayed on the demonic flying skateboard than be on foot.

The eerie silence of the island was broken only by the rustle of leaves and branches as Kid swept through the forests and mangroves in hopes of finding a survivor. But there was nothing, not even signs of a fight or disturbance outside the bloody beach. The only evidence that anyone had even inhabited the small island was the untouched camp. After making a third pass through and finding nothing, he swore under his breath and turned back to the campsite.

As soon as Beelzebub touched down, the Thompson sisters transformed out to their human forms. Kid recalled the demonic skateboard into his hand and pulled out the cell phone, his fingers quick to dial Captain Morgan's number. The girls watched and waited in silence as he briefly reported the situation. Once he finished, he turned to them.

"Stay here," Kid ordered as he snapped the cell phone close. "Morgan and his crew should be here soon. In the meantime I'll look around the camp to see if I can find anything."

"Don't worry, we're not going anywhere _near…_that," Liz said wearily.

She still could not believe the scene she had witnessed. All the blood, the bones, the cut up flesh, the _eyeballs_. Though she had seen people torn up and she had seen the pictures, this was still something else. She had never vomited before while in her weapon form—in fact she was not sure if she even could—but when she saw a crab pick one of the eyeballs and carry it away, she almost had a chance to test it. Now that they had investigated the island and she was certain they were the only ones there (living, anyway), she slowly tried to calm her nerves and steel herself.

"Come on, Patti…let's find something to do." Anything to take her mind off what they had just witnessed and try not to imagine themselves in some horror survival movie.

"How about ever there?" Patti suggested, pointing at a nearby log.

Liz looked between the empty, abandoned chairs and the log. "…Yeah, let's do that," she said. She shuddered at the thought of sitting in a chair that a dead person recently occupied.

Kid watched as the two girls started up one of what would be the first of several rounds of Tic-Tac-Toe games before turning away to investigate the camp site. The gathered wood around the barren campfire suggested they had been about to light one, perhaps in preparation for dinner. It was a brief reminder of the time. With the last remaining rays of sunlight breaking through the surrounding trees, Kid knew it would not be long before evening settled in.

Returning to examining the area, it was exactly as he had noticed before: nothing was out of place. No chairs knocked over, no tents torn, no sign of struggle at all. It was as if the inhabitants had just stepped out for a moment, but he knew that the fight must have taken place out on the beach. Still it was eerie, especially with twilight setting in. The campsite was a tranquil location hidden behind a site of death.

After taking one last look around, he walked over to a large table sheltered by an even larger canvas tent. Various documents were scattered on the wooden surface, most containing information about the islands and various testimony and sightings of the target.

_This was probably where they worked as they waited_, he thought as he rifled through the loose papers and files.

He could hear the girls talking behind him. They had ended their thirteen rounds and now Patti was pointing out the various insects while Liz complied with her sister's curiosities. But the voices faded out as he stared at a small, torn off piece of paper. It had been covered by some loose paper and upon seeing the small flecks of blood he stopped before slowly uncovering it. A thin ringing pounded in his ears as the tips of his fingers brushed over the paper before lifting it. It intensified as he held it before his eyes. The paper was stained and speckled with more blood, the handwriting written in the same red ink.

_Nice shot_.

Somehow it was similar to the "writing" on the beach. Neat and structured with only the blood splatter to ruin an otherwise clean note. With the last shreds of sunlight, he could make out more writing on the back. Slowly he turned it, eyes narrowing.

_They look like they have really strong souls :)_

For several seconds he stood still as a multitude of emotions surfaced. Fear struck first. It was clear that the note was referring to Liz and Patti. In many ways it was no surprise that a soul hunter targeting weapon souls would notice and assume that the weapons of a death god would be quite powerful. Although it was taking them twice as long, it was true that the pair was progressing well. Even if not, Kid would always believe the sisters' souls to be strong even without being Deathscythes. Seeing an actual threat, however, only made the danger of their mission more real, and the thought of losing either of them was scarier than he realized. But what was also troubling was how the messenger knew what they looked like. Had the killer been on the other island and he did not know it? How much had the killer seen? How much _could_ have been seen? Were they still here and he just could not notice or detect them?

As he glanced around, his gaze stopped when it passed over the two sisters. Patti was poking at a pill bug, making it curl up into a ball and knocking it around. Liz looked distracted, but she was mostly watching her sister torment the little bug. It was an otherwise normal activity, one that he had grown accustomed to and possibly even taken for granted. Immediately his fear changed into anger. Crumpling the paper into his fist, he stared at it, his mouth set in a thin line. Kid knew that that was their ploy—to make him afraid and make him run. To lose his focus and slip up. The fact that the messenger only saw his weapons as some kind of target also disgusted him. The girls were more than that. Much more.

His thoughts were broken when he heard Liz call out to him.

"Hey, Kid! It's getting dark. Want me to start the fire?"

Camping was not her forte, but many an overnight trip had taught her how to do at least that much. That and usually she was the best person. She loved her sister, but she would no trust the girl with a lighter. As for Kid, the reason was obvious.

Shoving the note deep down into his pocket, he turned and walked over to the campfire. "I'll get it," he said, keeping his appearance as normal as possible even if his actions were not. He ignored the look of surprise that passed through the older girl's face. "Can you hand me the lighter? It's in one of the bags."

Liz only stared before the words finally registered. "Oh, right—the lighter. Hold on." Technically there was one in each of them so it really did not matter whose bag she chose. But after searching one of the pockets, she tossed it to Kid.

"Usually you don't like getting your hands dirty," she half joked as he caught the lighter and crouched down to place the dry logs in a neat and orderly fashion.

"I was already up and closest to it," he simply answered, his attention focused on the logs and gathering kindling to help start the fire.

"Just don't take half an hour. It won't matter how the logs look once they start burning." She had a feeling there was something else on his mind, but only shrugged it off. One less chore for her to worry about.

Though to her relief, it looked like he was not taking forever for once. In fact he only spent five minutes positioning the logs before he lit the kindling. It crackled and a few sparks flew into the air before a fire flared up, the flames catching onto the logs.

As he sat down next to her, Patti looked up and asked, "Did you find anything?"

"Except for what was left behind, no," Kid half lied. There was no reason to tell them of the note he found. There was already enough to worry about and the last thing he wanted was for them to lose focus. Glancing at the numerous grids filled with X's and O's, he asked, "So who won?"

"I did!" Patti exclaimed with a bright grin, holding her index and middle finger apart to form the "victory" sign.

Kid cracked a smile. "Nice job, Patti."

Liz just sighed. "I swear she cheated."

"It's Tic-Tac-Toe—I find it hard to believe that Patti of all people would cheat," he said idly as he examined the grids.

"Yeah, well, you'd probably lose every single time or throw some kind of fit because the X's and O's weren't place in a certain way," she snorted.

The sad part, he had to admit, was that it was likely true. He was already focusing on a few grids where the lines were drawn crookedly and he had to look away before he was too far gone. That did not stop the occasional glances, of course.

The threesome settled into a comfortable silence as they waited for Morgan to arrive. As Patti doodled stick figures on the dirt, Liz stared into the crackling fire. Night had fallen and the campfire was their only source of light. The site had been eerie even in the daylight, but it was worse now with the darkness surrounding them. Every now and then she would think one of the flickering shadows was a person ready to catch them unawares.

Catching the involuntary shudder, Kid glanced at her before shifting his position to turn toward her.

"You all right?"

"Considering what all we've went through?" she answered in a dry tone before sighing. "Yeah, I'll be fine. It's just a lot, you know?"

"But it's nothing sis can't handle," Patti chimed in, ever eager to praise her sister's strength.

As usual Liz could only smile while inwardly cringing. "Thanks, Patti."

But now that it had been brought up she found her thoughts drifting back to the events of the day and the message on the beach. At least now she could think about it without feeling nauseous, but the sinister intent behind the message still troubled her. Picking up her own stick to poke at the dying embers scattered around the edge of the fire, she finally voiced aloud the thoughts she had tried to avoid.

"Hey…Kid. Do you really think those soul hunter people did that?"

Knowing what Liz was referring to, he only hesitated a moment before answering. "From what we've seen from the photos, most likely yes."

"But they were actual Shibusen _agents_," she continued, not bothering to hide the doubt and concern from her voice as she looked at him. "How strong are these guys?"

It was then that Kid remembered he had not told either weapon about the photo Morgan had given him the day before. As far as they knew, this was the first incident of a Shibusen agent falling prey to a soul hunter. Since the beginning he had been keeping secrets from them, and the note only increased the count. Each time he rationalized it was for their benefit, but now he wondered.

Guilt creeping in, Kid answered without looking at her. "Judging from the lack of struggle, I would assume the agents were surprised. It may be less about strength and more about stealth."

His eyes narrowed as he stared into the fire, watching as a small log slide down beneath its neighbors. The first agent had been alone, but there had to have been at least two stationed on the island judging from the amount of material both on the beach and in the camp. To take down one agent had already been, as Black*Star would have likely termed it, "ballsy," but to go after two only proved how confident they were. It also did not help that he was not sure if this was the act of one or more individuals.

"But this doesn't change anything," Kid continued, looking up to meet Liz's eyes before shifting his gaze to look at Patti who was also watching him. "It only means we need to be more alert and careful in what we do."

As Liz saw the hardened look of her meister's expression, she knew that just like last night, there was no point in protesting. She knew and had accepted that they were going to be stuck in Bermuda until the mission was over and done with, no matter what was thrown at them. But she felt more confident about it after handling that surprise kishin egg. If they could get through a hoard of Madness induced spiders _and _kill their boss, what was a normal kishin egg and a few psychos running around to them? Seeing Kid as determined and unwavering like always also gave her the little boost of strength and reassurance she needed.

"Figured you'd say that," she sighed, but there was a small if tired grin before she returned to poking at the fire. "I guess we're in it for the long haul."

Sensing the change in the older girl's attitude, Kid's expression softened a bit as he looked at her profile before turning his attention back toward the fire. "Hopefully not too long."

Eventually they heard a loud, familiar bellow from the shore. It was quickly followed by shouts and swearing from the other members as the small boats docked along the small makeshift pier. They could all see first hand the "greeting card" that had been left behind. Under the flickering light of the torch fires, the sight of bones and entrails looked even more gruesome.

"Fine mess they left us," Captain Morgan grunted as he made his way through the brush and shook his head. By now the threesome were standing and the telescopic eye swiveled over each of them before it finally rested on Kid. "You're a fine mess, too. What the hell happened out there?"

Kid extended his hand to produce the deformed soul from the spider. It flickered and twitched in his hand, the black veined lines pulsing. "This is what happened."

The lens extended out to examine the soul. "Well now," Morgan whistled, "sounds like I'm in for quite the story. But let's get you kids cleaned up first."

As if on cue, the medics appeared and they were soon tending to Kid's injuries. As Liz watched from the sidelines, she was relieved to see that the burns had healed over. All that was left was the original bite wound and faint traces of the more severe burns. With the proper medicine, it should heal even faster.

When they were finally given some food and water, the group had gathered around the table underneath the tent, a lamp overhanging above to light the area. Unlike Liz, Morgan did not mind using the chairs and sat as the rest stood. It would take almost half an hour for Kid to recount the day's events, with Liz and Patti supplying their own input. Patti, however, provided more sound effects and dramatic reenactments rather than actual useful information. All the while Morgan sat in silence as he listened, smoking his pipe and taking a swig of his rum every now and then. When they finished, he tapped the end of the bowl against the arm of his chair.

"Sounds like a hot mess if you ask me," he finally said, the plastic chair creaking under his weight. "Fact that we never even knew about that spider makes me wonder what the hell else we've missed."

"You don't perform aerial searches?" Kid asked as he recalled how it looked from the sky.

"Not out this far," the captain grunted. "Ever since those accounts of crashes and disappearances, you'd be hard pressed to find someone willin' ta fly out there and fly low. Even a few of my people are chicken." He cast a sidelong glance at a few who were still hesitating to help clean up and gather the body parts. "People are just afraid of runnin' into the kishin egg and becomin' its next victim. Too bad the ones who don't give a shit don't know know how to fly."

"Then it's possible there could be _more _out here and you wouldn't even know about it?" Liz asked as she leaned in to look over at Morgan.

"Probably." He looked at them. "Given the different stories I've heard and how many islands there really are, we may really be lookin' at something else lurkin' out there. Ya might have yer work cut out for ya."

"We're used to things like that," Kid said in an even voice. Although they had considered the possibility of multiple kishin eggs in the area, such abnormal ones had not been part of the plan. But if they had to eliminate other abnormal kishin eggs, then so be it. "What are your thoughts about what happened here? Do you think it really was the work of the soul hunters?"

"I've been through almost every site and it stinks of the same psychos," Morgan snorted. "Only difference is there are more inside parts left behind than outside parts. Not sure where the rest of the bodies are but they had plenty to work with since there were four agents here."

"Wait, _four_?" Liz paled. Like Kid she had guessed at least two. But four?

"Yep." Morgan reached over to a small stack of files he had brought with him and tossed out the four pictures of the presumed deceased agents. "Autopsy won't be done until tomorrow, but for now you can bet your souls that what you see out there is what's left of 'em." He pointed to two of the photos. "Two meisters." He then pointed to the other two. "Two weapons. Each paired together. Been stationed on the islands for the past few months handling the minor incidents we get every now and then. Not a bad bunch. Just had the rotten luck to be chosen to meet you guys here."

Hearing and seeing the ones who had been killed only made the reality of the situation worse for Liz. It was easier to handle when she had no idea who they were or what they were like. But realizing she almost had the chance to talk to them—that _they _were part of the cause of their death—she could feel her stomach churn again.

The telescopic eye swiveled and focused on the girl for a moment before Morgan stood up. "Well you kids have had one heck of a day. One of my guys will take you back to your place and I'll send a group out to investigate that island." He paused and looked at them. "I'd say take it easy tomorrow, but I'm guessin' that won't be happenin'."

"No," Kid affirmed. "The sooner we find the kishin egg, the better."

Without delaying any further, they gathered their things and headed back out to the beach. Kid, however, still had a few things he wished to discuss and hung back while the girls went ahead.

Speaking in low tones so they could not hear, he looked up at the captain. "Did you find anything about the soul types?"

"Still workin', but so far I haven't seen much of a connection," Morgan answered as he relit his pipe. "Blades and firearms seem ta be the most common, but we got a lot of 'em runnin' around so it ain't that surprisin'. Only thing really tyin' them all together is the fact they were pretty strong weapons. Potential agent material really."

"I see," Kid frowned. He had hoped there would be more of a particular similarity or pattern. "Let me know if you find anything else. I'll take a look at the files myself later."

They walked on silence, but as he passed the now one-eyed smiley face, Kid stopped to look at it. By now several other creatures had picked at the remains. Parts of letters were missing or had been moved. Morgan's crew had also begun the clean up, but the mess and stench still remained. His eyes lingering on the face, he turned and looked up at the captain.

"I would also appreciate it if you did not mention the message to my father in your reports."

Morgan stopped and arched a brow at the young death god. "Any reason why?"

"I'd rather not make anyone back home worry more than necessary," he replied in the same even tone. "We've lost five agents already, possibly even more. There's no point in risking more lives just because of this."

The captain stared down at Kid, the lens still as it focused on the teen's face. There was no trace of hesitation or uncertainty—whatever risk he was getting himself into, he was fully prepared for it. There was not even a look of pleading in those odd yellow ringed eyes of his. Just hard determination.

"You're the boss of this operation," Morgan finally shrugged as he resumed walking forward. "I'll say they were killed, but I won't mention the message."

"Thank you." Again he felt guilt nagging at him as this would be yet another secret he was hiding. But again, he believed that at least for now this was for the best.

By now the girls had already reached the small yacht that waited for them. The boat that had been left behind had been moved and was burning farther down from the beach. As Kid stepped onto the small ramp, he felt Morgan staring at him. More specifically, at his right hip.

"Sure there ain't somethin' else on your mind?" the captain called out as he stood at the end of the pier.

Despite the light material, Kid could feel the weight in his pocket. There was a moment before he glanced back, his expression calm. "If there is, I'll let you know," he answered before taking the last few steps onto the deck.

Morgan just chuckled and gave him a mock salute before turning around to yell at the people milling about.

As the boat pulled away, Kid stared back out onto the beach. With the torches and lights illuminating the sand, he could see the various men and women still bustling about. As the island quickly disappeared behind them, Kid's hand hovered near his right pocket—the place where he knew Morgan was looking at as he had boarded the yacht. There in its still crumpled form rested the blood written note from before. He wondered how long the man had known and how, but he had his suspicions.

At the sound of a door opening behind him, he turned to see Liz poking her head out. "Hey, are you going to stay out here the whole time or what?" she asked. Now that they were finally moving away from the island, her mood had lifted. "They got some food and drinks down here."

"I'll be down in a minute," he answered, giving her a small smile. It was good to see her finally relaxing.

"Okay. I'll go ahead and get you something."

As Liz disappeared back inside, Kid waited to be sure she was gone before taking out the note. Straightening it out, he leaned forward against the railing and read over the words once more. Thoughts circled his mind before he finally came to a decision. Shrugging off his backpack he lifted the flap of one of the side pockets and pulled out a black pen. Using the wall of the cabin as a table, in a few quick strokes he wrote on the paper. There was no time to make it perfect, and in truth he felt it did not deserve perfection. The words alone would be enough to satisfy him.

Stepping away, he gave it one last glance over before he held it out over the waters. By now the wind was whipping hard against him, the thin paper flapping wildly in his hand trying hard to break free. As if complying with its wishes, he released the note and watched with grim satisfaction as it flew high into the air, spinning around before it sailed over the ocean as the strong current carried it along.

Only once the paper had disappeared out of his sight did he turn around and enter the cabin to join his weapons, whom he could hear talking and laughing in the lounging deck below.

"Took you long enough," Liz said as he appeared and handed him a plate. "What were you doing up there?"

As Kid examined the plate, he could not help but notice the arrangement of the plate. It was only some shrimp, crackers, and cheese, but they were all set and positioned an orderly and symmetrical fashion. Even the two pairs of shrimp were all the same size.

"Writing," he finally answered as he leaned against the wooden wall.

"Writing what?" Patti asked from where she sat across from him.

But he did not answer. Instead he placed a small slice of cheese perfectly centered atop one cracker and proceeded to consume his snack.

* * *

><p>Under the stars of the Bermuda night sky, another ship sailed across the sea but in a different direction. The bow of a lone, tattered galleon cut through the dark sea waves, leaving behind a trail of blood red stains in its wake before the ocean waves submerged and hid the trail. Ocean water sprayed high against its worn, wooden sides, adding to the paint of barnacle, holes, and cracks. Chains hung and rattled from the sides, bones still hanging from the metal cuffs where prisoners once dangled. The clanging thuds were masked only by the wind hitting hard against the large, tattered sails, which had its own rips and tears along its canvas seams. By all means it was not ship worthy in the slightest, yet still the ship sailed on.<p>

As a small piece of paper fluttered near the top of the mainmast, a pair of gloved fingers reached up and plucked it out of its flight.

"Well this is unexpected."

"Oh?"

Standing atop the mainmast, two figures rested. One leaned against the wood while the other hung along the roped netting. It was the one on the rope who held the note, its familiar blood stains clear in the moonlight. After unfolding it, there was a smirk and a chuckle before it was handed to the other. This figure, too, gave a snort of derision at the neat handwriting written in black ink underneath the original bloody message.

_Thank you_.

As the note was turned over, more black words stood out against the red.

_You won't live long enough to find out._

"Sounds like a challenge," the one holding the note said before handing it back to the one still hanging on the netting. "Here, you wrote it. You can keep it."

"It's almost like we're exchanging love letters," the other said in a whimsical voice before slipping it into a pocket.

"I'm sure he would be thrilled to hear that."

"Ah…but if only I could have seen his face," the one hanging murmured.

"For which?"

"I'm sure both would have been lovely."

"Set up a hidden camera next time, then," the second suggested idly.

"…That's not a bad idea…maybe I should tape them…"

A snort. "Freak. Or maybe stalker if this really is a love letter exchange."

"And when was the last time you spoke to your old partner?"  
>"Too long to remember."<p>

"Aw, what a shame! I'm sure he would love to hear of your new hobby."

"Oh I'm sure he knows about it. I always did like things in bottles."

There was a small clink before a small jar rose into the air, gloved fingers turning it slowly. As the moon gazed down into it, its light reflected the contents: the bloody tips of freshly severed fingers floating in clear liquid.

"Love note aside, nicely done, by the way," the bottle collector added as the jar was lowered, the glass clinking against the others that hung along the black leather belt—lips, ears, eyeballs.

Ropes creaked as the netting's passenger swung around, an arm waving before the figure took a bow. The assortment of knives and scalpels glittered along the belts strapped along the arms and chest. "Thank you, thank you. You know I aim to please."

"Not sure who exactly you're 'aiming to please.'"

"It doesn't matter so long as they like it."

"Or throw up on it."

"Ah, adding a bit of inner stomach content to accent the piece…interesting."

"You _would_ think that."

"As an artist one must be open to improvisations and sudden sparks of ingenuity."

"If you think upchucking on your work is ingenious, sure."

The one on the netting sighed, limbs dangling limp from the ropes. "You will never understand a true artist's mastery."

"Yeah, yeah. I do what I do, you do what you do."

"What _you_ do is take everything you see and throw it all together hoping it works." The ropes creaked under the shifting weight. "I barely had anything to work with after you picked through them all."

The one standing shrugged. "Whatever. I got some good material. Using local parts all the time can get old and boring. I'm sure you enjoyed the fresh meat, too."

There was a moment as the flag above them flapped through the wind before a light chuckle broke through. "Hm… Inspiration at its finest. Our ways are much different, but I suppose that's what makes us partners, yes?"

"Ew, don't get all sappy on me," the one leaning against the mast scoffed.

The one on the rope only laughed again. "But things will get interesting."

"Well it won't be boring. It's more fun when they fight back."

"Yes…the recent group was far too disappointing."

"Whose fault was that again?"

"It was your creation. I only wanted to test it out."

"Wait, so should we call it a success?"

"I suppose," the hanging one sighed. "I just wish we could have played with them a little longer."

"Save it for later. We still have a few more runs to make after this meeting."

"Speaking of which…" The ropes stretched as the figure leaned far outward and looked toward the west. "Ah, I see the others."

"'Bout damn time." Bones cracked as the bottle collector straightened, neck and shoulders rolling. "Let's sail."

As if on command, the wind picked up, forcing the sails to groan as it strained against the rigging. One by one, more ships appeared until at least six tattered galleons sailed across the sea in an eastward direction.

All the while the grinning moon continued to laugh as it watched the green water turn red, the trail trickling over its reflection.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN:** Sorry for the delay—spring break, papers, Momocon—add that to a hard case of writer's block and well. You get an over two week delay. But this now brings the good news and bad news. _

_The **bad news** is the next chapter might be a while since I may need to write the subsequent ones to make sure it all flows smoothly. If I were to divide this story up into certain "arcs," I'm about to hit the first major one. So it might be over a week or more before the next update. **Good news** is the following two or so chapters after the next might not take as long! I could also be nice and upload them all at once if they're finished to make up for the wait time._

…Or_ I could be a horrible person and leave suspenseful cliffhangers and wait a week between the completed chapters anyway to give myself buffer room as I continue to write the other chapters. _

_We'll see…_


	5. Smile of a Stranger

It Is What It Is

Chapter 5

_**Disclaimer: **I do not own Soul Eater or any of its characters._

* * *

><p>The next morning, Kid, Liz, and Patti were gathered around the small dining table of their suite eating breakfast. It was a light one—two pancakes each with a side of strawberries and scrambled eggs. The girls did most of the talking, with Liz saying they should just take the day off and relax on the beach. Seeing several guys out on the waves earlier only strengthened her resolve to put yesterday's events behind her. But when after a few minutes their meister did not respond, the girls looked over at his untouched plate.<p>

"Kid, are you not eating?" Patti asked as she reached with her fork to steal one of his strawberries.

"In a minute," he murmured. He had brought over some of the files and to Liz the only thing that he was eating was the words off the pages.

"_Eat_," she ordered as she snatched the papers away from his hands.

"Hey—Liz!" Kid exclaimed as he looked over at her.

She just held the papers up before standing. "You can read them later," the older weapon said as she walked over to the living room table where the rest were scattered about. She frowned when she glanced over them before turning back to him, a finger pointed down at files. "Besides, weren't you up all night reading this crap, anyway? Take a break, jeez."

He only frowned at her, but the sudden growl from his stomach, the pointed look from one sister, and the giggle from the other as she stole another strawberry made him sigh. "All right, all right." When he turned to his plate, however, confusion rippled across his features. "Wait a minute, where did my—_Patti!_"

"Snooze you lose, Kid!" the younger girl just laughed as she held up the strawberry on her fork before eating it.

"That doesn't mean you can just _steal_ from my plate!"

"I'll get you some more," Liz said with a slight roll of her eyes, ignoring the complaints and giggling that came after as she made her way to the kitchen. But there was a small smile as she opened the refrigerator door and pulled out the small plastic basket. After the events from yesterday, it was nice to have a little sense of normalcy. Maybe it was a sign that today would be better.

But whatever hopes she had, they would be quickly dashed when Kid heard his phone go off in his room. They had just finished eating—or rather Kid finally finished eating and the girls were out on the balcony. He could hear Patti pointing out to a nearby pelican as he passed through the living room and Liz's own shock at how close it was—no wait, now it was coming closer to her and she was starting to freak out. _She'll have to fight that battle on her own_, he thought as he jogged the rest of the way to his room to answer the phone before it hit the final ring. When he looked at the caller-id, however, his brows furrowed.

Number withheld.

"Hello?"

"_Is this Death the Kid?_"

He paused. It was a woman's voice, but not one he recognized. "…Who are you?"

"_Being cautious I see. Wise decision._" The voice was more amused than threatening. "_My name is Raine. I work for Morgan._"

_Raine…_ Kid mentally went through the list of contacts Morgan had given him on his first night in Bermuda. It was there, but that only raised the trust level by a margin. "How do I know you really are her?"

There was a light laugh from the other line. "_They really taught you well. If you don't believe me, you can check for my lens later. Or ask Morgan himself._"

_She must mean the lens like Morgan's,_ he thought. _He did say those who were associated with him would have them…_ "What do you want?" He could at least listen to what "Raine" had to say.

"_Just to talk. I have some information you should know. It's about the soul hunters and that little bat you're after. There's more to this any of us realized._"

"What do you mean?" Kid asked. He could still hear the girls from outside and…was that a squawk?

"_Can't tell you much over the phone, but I can say this. There's someone else pulling the strings and this whole bat thing may be a cover up._"

_Someone else? A cover up?_ That could mean any number of things, though usually "cover ups" implicated government actions or something with similar authority. "Where are you?"

There was a moment of a silence from the other end before she lowered her voice. "_I'm at Gallows Island. It's one of the major port towns in a cluster of islands south of Bermuda. If you want to learn more, get here as soon as you can. You can take a ferry ship from the port in Somerset._"

He had heard of the island. It was supposedly once a gathering place for pirates that was later taken over by the British and used to hold a number of hangings—hence the name. It was later taken back by the locals and was now a popular trafficking place for ships to sell their wares, especially on the black market. Cheaper than coming into the main island port. Due to its nature and the types of sellers that frequent the town, it was slowly returning to a pirate town. But times had changed, and rather than a location of plunder, it was just a black market trade town whose only laws were their own. No government could touch them except for international matters. There was also a rumor that a powerful figure reigned over the town and was the one that kept the Bermuda officials off their backs. It really was an island of its own.

"Understood," he finally said, deciding that at the very least they would be able to find some information from the locals.

"_Good. Just follow the pelican. That's where I'll be._"

Before he could ask more, he heard the line disconnect. _A pelican…?_

Eyes widening, he quickly exited his room and ran to the balcony where he could hear Patti still laughing and Liz shouting. "Where is it!" he yelled as he slammed opened the sliding door and stepped out.

"Keep it back, _keep it back!_" Liz shouted as she scrambled to hide behind him.

The pelican was perched on the edge of the balcony, its wings spread wide and beak half open as it released a loud _squawk_. It stared at Kid for a moment, its eye blinking once before launching off and flying south. He stared after it, his thoughts recalling the conversation he just had. It had to be a coincidence…

But when he heard his phone ring and saw the text message, he stiffened.

_See you soon. _

Noticing the change, Liz leaned over and peered at the text message. "…Kid? What is it?"

He shut the phone and pocketed it. "Nothing." He then glanced back up at her before looking at Patti. "Get ready—we're going out to meet another informant."

"Seriously?" Liz groaned as she stepped back and made her way back inside. "We can't just stay here for the day? You still owe me that Blue Seashell dinner."

"Sorry, but going to have to put a rain check on it," he said as he followed after her and waited for Patti to enter before closing and locking the door behind them.

"Where are we going?" Patti asked.

Kid turned to look out the glass door, his eyes locking in on the disappearing spot of white in the sky before pulling out his phone and dialing Morgan's number. "Gallows Island."

* * *

><p>"Johnnie, I'm heading out," a woman called out as she spun in her chair twice before standing. Outside the sound of flapping wings and a loud <em>squawk<em> could be heard.

"Can I do anything for you while you're gone?" the young man scrambled upright from the small desk where he had been working. The Shibusen insignia on his sleeve was obscured by a red scarf hastily tied around it.

"No, but I should be back by lunch. If the kid gets here before I'm back, just tell him to wait."

The agent gave her a salute. "Got it, Raine!"

As the woman winked and waved two fingers as a mock salute back, she sauntered out of the office and out to one of the small side streets. She did not get far when she sensed someone following her, but only continued walking until she reached where the forest bordered the town. It was only then that she turned to face her stalker, a gun raised. But when she saw who it was, she frowned.

"You?"

* * *

><p>As Patti bounced through the port town's cobbled streets hours later, she could not help but find everything, well, <em>funny<em>. They were walking through one of the many street bazaars and considering the fact that Gallows Island was a black market type of town, it was not surprising to see all kinds of bizarre goods lining the streets. From common day appliances to counterfeit bags to local crafts and toys, it had just about everything. Masks stranger than Lord Death's skull mask hung along the many stalls of the market, each with varying expressions and colors. Some had feathers, animal bones, shark teeth, beads, and other various decorations attached to them. Unable to help herself, she grabbed one and quickly turned around.

"Hoowah!" she yelled as she jumped up at an unsuspecting Liz.

"GAH!" the older Thompson sister screamed as she jumped back, almost crashing into Kid who had been trying to find any signs of the "pelican" that Raine had mentioned.

"—Liz! What are you doing!"

"Don't yell at me, it was Patti!"

Patti just pointed and laughed at their frazzled looks. "Haha, that was the best! I really got you there, sis!"

Liz just rolled her eyes as she took the mask and handed it back to the vendor with a half-apologetic look. It was only half because it was obvious the vendor thought the whole scene amusing and _she_ was not amused.

"Stop fooling around," Kid sighed as he resumed walking. "We're here as part of the mission, remember?"

"Soooorrrryyy," the younger girl said as she crossed her arms behind her head, a small pout on her lips. She really did not see why they could not have a _little_ fun. Especially since they were in a real _pirate_ town. All they had to do was look to the right or to the left and they could easily find someone who likely belonged to some kind of crew. Just the thought of a fight breaking out made her giddy.

Liz, on the other hand, felt both at home and wary. It reminded her a little too much of their life back on the streets. Gallows was more civilized, but they really were surrounded by pirates. It was likely there were thieves roaming around and while she and Patti could blend in with the crowd, Kid could not. She knew he really did not think too highly of them and he practically screamed "Rob me, I'm rich!" with the way he carried himself. Though she did have to admire his confident attitude, and that was probably why she found herself not worrying too much. She just hoped there were not any soul hunters lurking in the crowd or worse—the pirates were working _with_ the soul hunters. She was certain Kid was thinking the same.

"Hey, check these out!" Patti ran ahead to a table that had various wooden animals on display. "They have a giraffe!"

"Patti, we don't have time," Liz sighed as she walked over to her sister, but she stopped when something glinted in the sunlight and caught her eye. The table also had some various jewelry on display, but the ones that got her attention were those made of a crystal she had never seen before. A light cerulean in color, when it caught the light it almost looked as if it were…shimmering? _Like the reflection on water…_

Kid just grabbed an arm each and forcefully pulled them away. "We can come back _later_," he said firmly. "After we have spoken to Raine and received the information she gathered."

"What the hell—Kid!" Liz protested as she stumbled before pulling her arm free. "Damn, okay! You didn't have to do that."

"Aww, but it was really neat," Patti complained at about the same time, though she waited for Kid to let her go rather than try to pry herself free.

"Is the kid being rough on you ladies?" a smooth voice called out to them from the side.

As they stopped to turn, a tall man dressed in gray with a tan, leather coat approached. Two leather belts hung low below his waist, though the coat obscured whatever weapon they may have held. Most likely a dagger of some kind, or a handgun. There was also the faint sound of glass clinking together.

Kid immediately stiffened as he eyed him, but there was nothing too out of the ordinary about him. From the way he was dressed and carried himself, it was clear that the man was not a native and must be in town for a temporary stay. Perhaps part of one of the many passing ships. There was also nothing off about his soul either, but he could not help but feel wary.

All Liz could see, however, was a tall, dark, rugged but handsome stranger and after being deprived of her chance to get to know the surfers at their resort, she was not going to let this chance slip away. "Oh don't mind him," she said with a dismissive wave, quickly stepping up to him. "He's always like that. Business this, business that—he never knows when to let up."

Kid shot the girl a look before looking back at the man. "We _do _have some important business to attend to, so if you'll excuse us—"

"Damn, you're right," the man said as he ignored Kid and spoke directly to Liz. "He really is all business. Why do you put up with him?"

Patti only laughed at the dumbfounded look that graced the young death god's face as he stood there staring.

"It can be a drag sometimes…but he does have a point," she admitted, glancing back at her meister. She could see the look and she knew that after last night he would be wary of _anyone_. Still, the guy did not seem like a threat, so she just remained friendly. Plus he was hot and they were in a public place. Only an idiot would try and pull something here, pirates town or no pirate town.

"That important, huh? Well I'm not one to keep a pretty lady from doing her job," he said as he grinned and took a step back. "Though I feel like I should give you a fair warning. Word in the wind says some poor bloke's soul was taken last night. Pretty messy from what I hear."

Immediately Kid looked up and approached him, all traces of his prior annoyance gone. "What else did you hear?" Raine had made no mention of this and he had to wonder why.

The man looked at him in mild surprise before responding. "Not much. But it's not the first time I've heard about it. Soul hunters or something? I hear there've been a couple of sightings…maybe around Verrill Island?"

"Really?" Liz said as she exchanged glances with Kid.

"And where is Verrill Island?" Kid asked.

"It's a small island up north. Some local fishing village is up there if I remember right. The island is known for their crab." He shrugged. "That's what I heard, anyway, but I'm just the everyday merchant and only sailed in yesterday."

"You're a merchant?" Kid asked, a brow arched. "You look more like a mercenary."

"Heh, part of the trade," the man winked. "Can't get robbed if I don't look like I'm selling, eh?" He then bowed with a flourish, his arms held wide. "Danny Jackson at your service. Provider of all things glass." He then produced a small blue colored glass ball with what looked like a glass fish hanging inside it and held it out to Liz. A few more could be seen hanging on the side of his belt. "Free of charge."

"Seriously?" the girl exclaimed in surprise as she took the gift.

"I told you, I'm a merchant. We don't give away free things that often," Danny said with a charming grin.

"…This is so cool," Liz sighed in such a way that Kid only rolled his eyes.

Danny gave her another wink before pulling back. "Well then I should be on my way. Good luck and stay safe."

"Finally," Kid muttered under his breath as they watched the man walk down the street. "If you're done flirting and gawking, let's get going."

Liz was far too pleased with their recent encounter and her newly acquired gift to pay any mind to her meister's tone or annoyance. "No need to be jealous."

"There's nothing for me to be jealous over," he replied in a dry voice.

"Uh huh," she said as she held up the glass ball high into the air. "But we learned something, right?"

"…I suppose, though I'm sure we could have heard about it from Raine."

By this time Liz found herself absorbed by the glass bauble and poked it gently, causing the fish inside to move and clink against the glass. "I wonder how he got it in there…"

"It's cool that he gave it to you for free, too," Patti grinned as she watched before Liz handed it to her so she could take a closer look.

_Why do I even bother?_ Kid sighed to himself as he led them to where the informant was waiting for them. But he supposed he could let the brief interruption go. As Liz pointed out, they did learn something valuable at least. _Verrill island…we'll have to take a look at it later._

* * *

><p>Far away from unwanted eyes, two figures gathered at the edge of the island. Glass clinked with each step as the man approached a rotted out tree.<p>

"Here." The figure tossed a small object up into the branches and a gloved hand caught it. "I even cleaned it like you asked."

"Blood can rust a blade, you know. But I take it the job was easy?"

"Didn't see it coming." From beneath the tan, leather coat a large jar flashed in the sunlight before it was pulled out and held up. "But I had a little help."

As the sun stared down into glass, its light illuminated the soft blue glow of its contents. The glow of a soul.

"And like that woman, those brats won't know what hit them until it's too late."

* * *

><p>"What do you mean she's missing!" Kid yelled as he grabbed the agent by the collar of his shirt and pulled him down. "I spoke with her just this morning!"<p>

"I-I don't know!" the man squeaked. "She left after she called you and hasn't returned since!"

The group was standing in the middle of Raine's office, but the informant was not there. Instead they found a skinny, pale, freckled face young agent scrambling around almost crying. It was only after Kid approached him and asked what happen did they learn that the woman they were supposed to meet was nowhere to be found.

"Did you try calling her? Asked around?"

"Yes—I found her phone still on her desk and no one's seen her—"

"Hey—Kid! Come on, let him go," Liz tried to persuade her meister. She could not help but feel bad for the guy and she had to wonder what supervisor he pissed off to get this job. It was obvious he was a low ranking agent. Even the uniform seemed too big for him, the way the jacket seemed to sag and half cover his hands. "It's not like he can really do much."

"Hehe, he looks like he's about to pee in his pants," Patti giggled.

Kid only gave the agent a piercing glare before roughly releasing him and stalking off to where the informant's desk was. He had been surprised by the agent's presence, but it also made some sense. There were likely other agents working undercover here, or at least passed through every now and then. But for an agent to be working _under_ an informant…that was new.

"How long have you been here, anyway?" he asked.

"Ah, er, a month maybe?" the agent answered.

After rifling through the notes and papers left behind, Kid picked out the file he had been looking for. "Agent Jonathan Walker."

"I go by Johnnie."

Kid just looked at him before continuing. "Assigned here last May to help with some recent low level kishin egg attacks. Mission accomplished, voluntarily extended his stay to help other stationed agents in Bermuda." After reading aloud the basic facts, Kid looked over to where the said agent stood wringing his hands together. "So you helped Raine with her work?"

"Er, well, not exactly," Johnnie admitted. "She just loaned me her office and I helped run errands for her." He rubbed the back of his neck. "It helped pay the bills…"

The young death god only stared at him before sighing and snapping shut the file, tossing it back onto the desk. "Do you remember anything she said to you? About the soul hunters, recent attacks, kishin egg sightings?"

"Only the stuff found here. Otherwise she really kept things private," Johnnie answered, his voice quivering as he glanced at Kid. "But maybe I have something in my files…"

As the agent checked, Kid paced the room. "But how could she have gone _missing_?" he said aloud. "She knew I was coming and she wanted to tell me something, so she could not have just left on her own."

"You don't think…something _happened_ to her, do you?" Liz said warily.

"I don't—"

He was interrupted by a high pitched scream from outside. Immediately they all bolted from the office with Kid in the lead. Farther down the street a woman was running toward them, shouting and flailing her hands.

"Ma'am, what happened!" Johnnie called out as he rushed over to her, grabbing her arms as she crashed into him sobbing.

"There—a body—"

By now a crowd had gathered and one of the local merchants went to where the woman had come from. He gave a shout and waved them over.

"Over here!"

The body of a woman was sprawled in the shadows of the cobbled streets, as if it had been dumped there on a whim. The only wound was the one that killed her—a deep gash across her throat. The blood had long since dried on her skin and clothes, but there was none on the street. When Johnnie saw the body, he let out a cry.

"Raine! It's Raine!"

_This is Raine?_ Kid could only stare in shock. Other than Johnnie, he had probably been the last person she had talked with and she died before telling him whatever it was she had found. Worse still, her soul had been taken. It seemed to neat for a kishin egg and unusual for a soul hunter, but it was possible.

"Is…Is that really her?" he heard Liz ask as she stood next to him.

"From Johnnie's reaction, it seems so," he replied grimly. He then turned to her. "Take Patti and wait in the crowd. If you see anything suspicious, let me know."

She nodded. "Got it."

He watched as Liz took Patti to where the crowd was, making sure to stay within his sight. With their souls locked on, he then turned to the agent still crouched down on the ground. He knew already stood out and he could feel the suspicious looks cast at him. "We can't stay here, we need to return to office," he started to say, but Johnnie shook his head.

"If only…if only I had gone with her…maybe she…" He was now crouching down by her body.

"Johnnie."

"I should have tried to find her sooner! I should have—"

"_Jonathan Walker._"

Kid was now crouching directly beside the young agent and reached over to forcefully grab his shoulder and turn the agent to him as he spoke in a low voice. "You couldn't have known this would happen and there's nothing you can do about her death. What you _can_ do is help us finish what she set to do. Leave it to the local authorities for now, but we have to _leave_. The longer we stay here, the more attention we draw to ourselves." He then leaned in closer as he lowered his voice even more. "Whoever killed her may be related to what she was looking into and the sooner we find out what, the sooner we can find her killer. Now get up and act like an agent."

Walker seemed to shrink under the young death god's cold gaze, his mouth open in silent shock before he finally closed it and managed a few feeble nods. "Let me…let me just take her lens…so I can give it to Morgan…"

Kid nodded before leaning back to give him room and to take a closer look at the body. It did not look like there was much of a struggle. Whoever attacked her caught her by surprise. He did note the empty gun holster and a quick scan told him that the gun was nowhere nearby. No one would even notice a rogue gunshot in this town, either. But still, this was a close range attack and there were other signs of injury… _She had let down her guard_, he thought_, and it cost her. _

But there was no time to mull it over and there was not much he could do right now. He had his own mission to do and he had a strong feeling they were connected. What he said to Johnnie were not words of distraction but what he believed to be true. If the little snippet she told him was correct, then this was not some random act of violence.

His attention turned to lens that hung around her bloodied neck. It had managed to avoid the blood splatter, most likely from being hidden inside her shirt. As he watched the agent remove the chain holding the lens, Kid recalled what Morgan had told him about the lens. They served as a kind of identification mark, but past that he was not sure what other purpose they served. It seemed like Morgan's had some sort of function. Could hers have as well? However, the one that belonged to Raine looked different. It was less like a telescope and more like a simple glass lens that could be used as a magnifying glass. A small, soaring pelican was etched around the side of the wide rim.

Once Johnnie was finished, he led them back to the office as the local authorities took care of the body. But upon returning, all they could find were the basic reports of the various soul hunter sightings and a compilation of stories from those who traveled into the port town. There was no mention of anything beyond that—not even about the bat kishin egg.

"This doesn't make sense," Kid said as he set down another useless file. "She told me she had something important to say. Did she not keep a written record of it?"

"She might have," the young agent said in a low voice, still upset about the death of Raine. "She always believed that information was best kept inside her head."

"She must have had a big head," Patti said, but managed to repress the giggle when she saw Liz's disapproving look. "Sorry," she quickly said.

"Raine was smart," Johnnie said, almost defensively. "The only thing she recorded was what she had to."

Kid sighed and glanced at the clock. It was a already a quarter past two. If they wanted to check the island Danny mentioned earlier, they would need to leave soon. "We can't waste any more time here. Have you heard anything about the recent attacks? If anything we could look to see what we find there while you stay here to see if there's anything we missed."

"I think the most recent was the one at Verrill Island," the agent answered after a moment. "Another happened just south of there—Dyer's cove. It's a small island that only the nearby local fisherman go to collect materials."

_So that's a confirmation for Verrill and now another one_. "Can you give us directions and any information about those areas?"

"I'll put together what I can and give you copies. The originals have to stay for the investigation."

"You should also hold onto the lens. I'm sure Morgan will want to see it."

The agent nodded. "Understood."

"Man, this thing really is turning into some mystery horror movie," Liz shuddered as she sat down on the couch beside her sister while they waited.

"Don't worry, sis, I know you'll take down the bad guy," Patti said as she gave her sister a pat on the back.

"You're putting way too much faith in me, Patti," she sighed, to which her sister only laughed.

When everything was completed, they exited the office and looked where Raine's body had been found. By now it had been removed and everyone had returned to their normal routine. But there was something about the air. It was tenser, and again Kid could feel eyes directed toward them. Yes, it was definitely time for them to leave.

"Good luck," Johnnie said as he managed a smile. "I'll see what I can find here and let you know." He then leaned in closer to them. "Turn right at that alley and head straight. It'll take you out to the forest. You can get leave unnoticed from there."

"Thanks," Kid said with a nod of gratitude. "Tell Morgan where we've gone and I'll contact you if I find anything."

Johnnie watched as the team made their way to the alley, and turned to catch a glimpse of the death god flying away atop his demonic skateboard. But as he did, he slipped the lens inside his coat pocket. It rested against a small, leather notebook with the letter "N" engraved at the top right corner, small red flecks staining the brown cover.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN:**__ Aaah I am so, _so_ sorry about the month long delay. Last semester of school kind of sucked my life and I was not happy with the direction my then current drafts were going. But now summer is here and I have plenty of things written! Also, thank you everyone who sent in reviews in the meantime. It really did help keep that motivation alive and to know that people were really looking forward to these chapters. I hope I didn't disappoint, especially for such a long wait, sob. But as I said in my last chapter, I would not upload until I had written a few chapters so with those mostly complete, the wait time should hopefully not be as long. This chapter had a bit of mystery and deceit…who can they really trust? Oh, and there really is a Gallows Island in Bermuda, but the one depicted here is not it. Just borrowing the name because come on. _Gallows_. How could I not? Other islands named are also borrowed from real island names, but again, not the actual islands._

_Thank you again for waiting, and feel free to leave a review!_


	6. If You Wanna Get Out Alive

It Is What It Is

Chapter 6

_**Disclaimer: **I do not own Soul Eater or any of its characters. _

_**Warning:** Graphic content in some portions of this chapter. _

* * *

><p>A few fishing boats and yachts sailed the waters, but it was an otherwise clear and uneventful flight. From above, the island actually looked like a crab—or so Patti said. Kid simply could not see it and Liz had to tilt her head at an odd angle before she could make out the vague outline. The claw made up the beach. Upon approaching it, however, one of the first things Kid noticed was the silence. There were several boats that were grounded on the beach, their ropes barely tied onto the stakes, but there was no one around. Not even the nearby fishing shacks had anyone working in them.<p>

Liz and Patti transformed out as soon as Kid landed and stood on the sand, looking around.

"…Where is everybody?" Liz asked aloud. "I thought he said this was some kind of big crab town or something."

"Maybe they're all taking a nap?" Patti suggested as she spun on her heel, her arms outstretched.

As Kid passed one of the grounded boats, he stopped and stepped closer to look inside. Buckets and crates of fresh fish were still inside. _But why would they leave their catch…?_ He looked at the next boat nearby and noticed the same thing. On the ground several tracks of footprints overlapped one another and some gear lay haphazardly on the sand. More discarded objects and hurried footprints led to a small dirt path into the forest.

"Something's wrong," he finally said as he walked back to the sisters who were watching him with mild curiosity. "Stay close to me and be on the alert."

The girls exchanged glances before voicing their assent and followed their meister down the path. They assumed it would take them to the village, but it wound through the forest and was farther inland than expected. Soon the trees thinned and the first of the many huts appeared. Though it was a relatively prosperous village, it was clear by the small, wooden housing and straw, thatched roofs that they retained their native roots and simple way of living. But just like the beach, they were empty.

As they drew further into the village, the silence only worsened. Not even the wind passed through to rattle the open shutters or ripple through shirts still hung on lines left to dry. There were no children to kick the yellow ball that rolled abandoned across the road in front of them. No women cooking at the empty but still lit kitchens or going to the market with the trampled baskets that lay discarded on the ground. No men to talk about their catch of the day, to show off their large fish or crab that sat out in the sun still drying.

There was no one. Not a soul.

"…Kid…" Liz said in a low voice as she drew closer to him, unable to hold back the fear she was starting to feel. "Please don't tell me this is some ghost village."

"It's not," he answered almost automatically. "But something happened here to make everyone abandon their things and it had to be recent."

The girl shuddered in response, not sure whether that was better or worse. First an island of spiders, now a soon-to-be ghost village? "What should we do?"

"Let's look around and see if we can find anyth—"

"Who are you!" a voice yelled behind them, interrupting Kid and forcing them all to turn around in surprise.

It was a young man, dressed only in a pair of water stained shorts and sandals. A basket full of crab and a large fish slung over his shoulder and his free hand gripped a fishing spear. When they realized the tip was pointed right at Kid, both girls immediately tensed and stood ready to either transform or act in case it was thrown. But despite the fierceness in the fisherman's stance, there was unease as well. It was clear that he, too, found the emptiness of the village strange and unsettling.

"Are you a local here?" Kid asked, keeping his voice calm and even.

"Yeah, and you're not," the young man replied, raising his spear slightly. "So who are you and where the hell is everyone? Is this your doing!"

"Calm down," Kid only said, not moving. He had no fear for his own safety, but he was concerned about Liz and Patti. He knew they would do whatever it took to protect him, but he could see something they could not. The tip glistened, but it was coated with a thin veil of substance that altered the sunlight's reflection. "We only just arrived here to investigate the recent soul hunter killing."

The young man stared at him, his spear lowering just a fraction. "The what?"

The trio glanced at each other, sharing his confusion. "…The soul hunter attack," Liz spoke up. "Didn't one happen here recently?"

"No, nothing's happened—except you showing up and everyone gone!" Again the spear was raised and this time he took a few steps toward them. "Maybe you're the soul hunters everyone's been talking about!"

"We are _not_ soul hunters," Kid said firmly, stepping forward so that he was more in front of the girls, much to their surprise. "We are representatives of Shibusen and are investigating the recent attacks. We heard that one occurred here or near this island and came to ask the locals what they know, but the village was already abandoned when we arrived. We are just as clueless as you." He paused. "This _is_ Verrill Island, isn't it?

"Shibusen?" The spear lowered, but the young man still eyed them warily before speaking again. "I've heard of you." He paused, as if debating whether to fully answer or not. In the end he relaxed a fraction more. "Yeah, you're on Verrill. I've heard about those soul hunters, but nothing around here. Not recently anyway."

"Are you sure?" Kid asked, unable to keep out the confusion from his voice. "But we were told there had been one. How long were you out fishing?"

"I left this morning with a few other men. Found a good spot and decided to stick it out longer with my partner while the rest went back." He glanced back down the path toward the beach. "He's with the boat. We saw everything still on the beach so I came here to see what happened."

_And then he found an empty village us standing in the middle of it. _"But nothing last night? No one went missing?" Kid pressed.

"No, not that I know of. Whoever told you that must have gotten confused."

_But _two_ people collaborated with the account, one of them being our own agent_. Kid could not make sense of this. Had both the stranger and Johnnie gotten the wrong information? "But everyone was here when you left?"

"Yeah…" As if finally determining that the trio were not a threat, the young man lowered his spear to his side and frowned as he looked around. "I don't know what happened, but we have to find the others. Let me get Mil—"

This time it was a blood curdling scream that interrupted the conversation, and instantly the group turned to the opposite end of the village where the thick forest bordered it. The young man's face paled as he dropped his basket.

"That was Milo—_Milo!_" he shouted as he ran toward the direction.

"Wait—!" Kid called after him before looking at the sisters. "Liz, Patti!"

"On it!" they said in unison as they quickly transformed.

The instant Kid caught them he took off after the young man. By now he had activated his Soul Perception and focused on the only other soul on this island. At the fringe, however, he could sense the faint flicker of a soul. But just as soon as he sensed it, it was gone. Instantly he knew what had happened and he quickened his pace, shouting at the other to stop and to warn him of the danger. That was when he felt it.

The madness.

It was like a sudden wave that pulsed through him, and for a moment he staggered to catch his breath. It had been so strong—not as strong as the spider from yesterday, but it still caused him to feel a strange, sharp pain inside him.

"Hey, Kid, are you okay?" Liz asked from his right hand, sensing the pain and discomfort.

"I'm fine," he said through clenched teeth as it passed. He had no idea what just happened, but he had no time to think about it. Taking only one last precious second, he resumed his chase, using only his Soul Perception to track the young man. "Another corrupted kishin egg is here and that guy is running straight for it!"

"Are you serious!" Liz exclaimed.

As if on cue they heard another yell, only this was more of a battle cry mixed with anguish.

"Damn it," Kid swore under his breath. He could see the break in the trees ahead of him. Just a few feet more…!

He almost missed the body that was hanging from a nearby tree. Before his mind could fully register what he caught a glimpse of, another was lying tossed to the side. A part of the face was missing. But even as his eyes took it in, his body still moved, avoiding the increasing number of torn off limbs and flesh and blood. It was only until he broke through the line and stumbled onto the coarse sand of the beach did he finally stop.

It was a blood bath. All around him bodies littered the beach. Young, old, strong, weak, male, female—with all their hastily packed valuables scattered around them, their blood soaked the sand a dark, muddy red. Most were barely recognizable. They were all torn, their organs and entrails scattered about. Various creatures were still picking at them—crabs, birds, insects. But even that was not the main attraction.

No.

It was the _thing_ that the young fisherman fought a little further down the beach, throwing his spear into one of its large, round eyes that was raised high on its black stalk.

It was the _thing_ that swiped its enormous red orange claw, catching the unfortunate fool and raising him up several feet into the air.

It was the _thing_ that before Kid could fire even one shot to help, snapped the body in half with a sickening crunch, the lower half falling into the red ocean water below and the upper tossed into its giant maw, crushing the bones and tearing the flesh before consuming the soul that appeared only briefly before being crushed as well.

It was the _thing_ that made Kid let out an outraged yell and fire a hail of bullets at its hard crustacean shell as he charged at it.

It was the thing that he vowed to destroy and to avenge the lives of all those lost—especially the one he witnessed taken right before his eyes.

* * *

><p><em>Bang bang bang.<em>

The resounding gunshots were immediately followed by a large _splash_ as Kid skidded back along the sand.

"Did we get it?" Liz's voice came from his right.

"Almost," he answered, eyes staring out over the open ocean. It had been a hard battle, but it was almost over. The already bloodied water churned and foamed, bits of white flesh mingling with the hard, orange chips of shell littering the surface.

"Incoming!" Patti called out.

As soon as the word was out of her mouth, large streams of water erupted and flew toward Kid, forcing him to jump back and dodge each one. After the fourth stream, a giant claw thrashed around the surface. A large eye popped up afterward, twitching this way and that on its stalk. A torn stub was all that remained of the other. Once the lone eye spotted Kid, the claw snapped the air before the rest of the giant crab's body jumped out of the water in his direction. Nimbly Kid jumped up, firing several more rounds at the exposed soft flesh of its mouth. The crab landed right where he once stood, the claw thrashing about in an attempt to catch him. Instead the young death god leaned back to avoid the swipe and kicked off the claw to use the momentum to flip backwards, firing a few more rounds at it.

Landing on the back of the shell, Kid spun around, careful not to slip on the slick surface. Several cracks were already forming along its hardened shell, the clear bodily juices seeping through. As the crab tried to reach back and snap its claw at him, he ducked low and a stream of soul bullets exploded around the vulnerable joints. The crab rocked as its last remaining offensive weapon tore and fell to the sand. In pain it reeled, forcing Kid to jump off again and back onto the ground.

But this was exactly what he wanted. As soon as the crab exposed its unarmored underside, he could see the scorch marks as well as the deep, jagged cracks he had inflicted from before. Quickly shifting his stance, he took one, two, three long steps before leaping into the air, slamming his heel against the edge of the shell to push the crab completely onto its back. Unable to defend itself, the crab could only let out shrieks of death as Kid finished it off in an explosion of soul bullets. Once the smoke cleared, a red but black stained soul floated above the corpse.

"…Finally," Liz said, though her voice was muted as she stared out from her weapon form at the carnage before returning back into the darkness of the strange space that only weapons found normal and familiar. She just could not look out at the gruesome mess before them. If she did she was sure that once again, she would learn whether or not if she could vomit while in her weapon form. The message from yesterday had been bad, but this? It was only by sharing the rage her meister felt that she managed to stay focused during the battle. But now that they were still standing right in the middle of it, she was just glad she could not smell the rotting stench.

Patti, too, could not bring herself to look outside and for once stayed silent. No cheers of victory or any kind of lighthearted remark. When she did catch a glimpse of a young child's torn body, the hand still gripping that of another's—an older sibling—she just flinched and moved her soul closer to her sister's. Not much fazed or frightened her, but there was just something about _this_ particular scene that got to her.

When Liz felt her sister's presence, she looked over to her. _Patti…_

Kid could also feel the unease of his weapons, but only stood silent as the soul drifted toward him. He stared down at it, his eyes narrowing. At first glance it looked similar to the spider's soul from the day before, but there were less black spots and he could see tinges of orange. Vein like black lines stretched around it, but like the spots, there were much less with the focal point at the bottom. He could feel faint pulses of madness still emanating from the corrupted soul and he thought he saw a few spots actually _appear_ right before him. It puzzled him and he wondered if it was still processing all the recently devoured souls. _If so, then we destroyed it before it could fully absorb the power and evolve…_

Liz watched Kid from the back hilt of the gun that was held closest to him—mostly so she would not have to catch a glimpse of the beach around them. After a few moments, she finally asked, "So…what do we do now, Kid?"

He glanced down at her before looking back out to the ocean. He could see the wrecked boats and floating bodies of those who tried to escape by sea but were unable to make it. He doubted anyone survived, and the two who had avoided the initial attack were now dead. If anyone from the village was still out at sea or on another island, they would come back only to find an empty village and then later discover their family's sad and grisly fate. It was too much. Too cruel. He had destroyed the thing that ruined this peaceful village, but he had been too late. Far too late.

_But how? And why?_ Kid wondered as he looked back toward where they had come from. _The main beach is on the other end…why come this way?_ Had they been driven? He recalled the boats on the other beach and the haphazard state the boats and prints had been. Had the other men seen something come toward them and they all tried to flee from the other end of the island? Yet instead they found themselves running into the very thing they were trying to escape. But something still bothered him. Even if the whole village had run off, surely some would have tried to run _back_. _…Had there been something else?_ Something else that would have prevented everyone from going back the way they came?

Kid closed his eyes. _Collect._ Slowly the corrupted soul drifted toward his chest, and with a flash of light it disappeared into his body. Normally he never noticed whenever he collected souls, be they those of innocents or kishin eggs, but he thought he felt something this time. Like a small blast of cold air. However it had been so brief he believed he had just imagined it. Again, now was not the time to think about it.

"Something else happened on this island," he finally said as he turned around and walked back toward the forest. "For everyone to have been killed in this one area…there had to be at least one other party involved."

"You mean like another one of those…things?" Liz asked warily, though glad they were moving away from the carnage.

"I thought so at first, but I would expect more destruction in that case."

"People?"

"For a whole village and for the men to not fight back?" Kid frowned. "No, it just doesn't make sense. We would have seen some resistance back in the village, but you saw how it was. They took whatever they had on hand and left like there was a plague coming through." After a moment he shifted Liz to his left arm, pinning her to his chest as he reached into his pocket to pull out his cellphone. With one hand he texted Morgan a brief message before snapping it shut and slipping it back into his pocket.

"Wait, you're not going to call him?" Liz asked as he took her back into his hand.

"No time," he simply answered before he returned back to the beach. "We're going to Dyer's Cove." He held out his hand and Beelzebub appeared before him.

"But isn't it getting late?" she asked. She was not sure what time it was exactly, but they had left Gallows at around two and it had to have been at least over an hour, maybe two. Sure, it would not get dark for a while yet, but traveling took time, not to mention that they spent a lot of energy in their last fight. "If we find another one of those weird kishin eggs—"

"Then we destroy it," Kid answered as they ascended back to the sky, leaving the bloody beach behind as he flew toward the next island. "There's something else that's been bothering me. That villager said he had never heard of any recent attacks, yet Danny and Johnnie both claimed to have heard reports."

"Maybe they misheard? Or their sources got it wrong?" Liz offered.

"Maybe," he said, but he was skeptical. "I'll ask Johnnie when we return, but I want to check out Dyer's Cove first."

"Can't it wait until tomorrow?" Liz persisted.

"No."

"Patti, say something," she finally groaned as she looked over at her sister. But she stopped when she noticed the girl was staring out. "…Patti?"

"Huh? Oh! Yeah, let's go get 'em!" she laughed, punching her fist into the air.

"That's not—" She frowned as she moved a little closer. "Hey, are you okay?"

Patti gave her sister a grin. "Of course I am! I just got a little sleepy."

The older girl was not convinced, and the hard look she gave the younger girl showed it. But Patti just ignored it and instead pointed out a group of dolphins jumping through the water below them. Seeming to act like her usual self, Liz reluctantly joined her as she peered out, their reflections appearing as they looked down. There was something soothing about watching the dolphins play, and it allowed her to not think about what they were leaving behind. With a glance to her left, she wondered if that was true for Patti, too.

Liz was not the only one who was concerned about the girl. Though he did not say anything, Kid had been aware and had listened to the girls talking as he flew, but he could also feel a slight waver in Patti's soul. It was very faint, and he was not sure if it was out of fear, uncertainty, or something else entirely, but it was there and it was something he was not used to feeling from the usually spunky and carefree soul that rested in his left hand. For now, however, she seemed to have returned to her usual self, and he felt no need to bring it up. As horrific as the scene had been, they needed to continue to move forward. They needed to solve this mystery before another tragedy like the one they left occurred. And hopefully Dyer's Cover would have another piece to this aggravating and complicated puzzle.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN: **Whoops this was a little longer of a delay than planned. This chapter was originally twice as long but I decided at the last minute to cut it in two. Considering how long the next part is…probably a good call, ha ha ha… But I feel like this chapter is so short, sob. 6 pages, less than 4,000 words...augh. Ah well. As I said before, next one is a bit of a doozy. I also feel like I should apologize for the graphic detail in this chapter. There will be more in the future, but I think it'll be a while until the next grisly heavy chapter. And there will be some fluffier and lighter chapters, too, I promise!_

_On that note, some may have noticed that I changed the category of "It Is What It Is" from _Suspense/Romance_ to _Suspense/Adventure. _I did it because while this will have some Kid/Liz, on the whole there's actually not a lot of focus on romance and there's a ton more action. So I don't want to mislead people who are expecting a lot of romance only to find…well this chapter, haha. That isn't to say there won't be any, but it'll be a while. I meant it back in the first chapter that their development is going to take time. None of that "pre-developed" feelings—it's not as fun that way. _

_Thank you again for the reviews! They are always appreciated._


	7. Dancing With the Wind

It Is What It Is

Chapter 7

_**Disclaimer: **I do not own Soul Eater or any of its characters. _

* * *

><p>Drifting several hundred miles away was an old galleon, its tattered sails billowing despite the lack of wind. The chains that hung along its side rattled against the half rotted wood that creaked and moaned as the ship cut through the ocean waters. There were other sounds—the sound of feet thumping along the planks, shouts for a lending hand here and there, the occasional scuffle and blades clashing to pass the time. But deep within its hull, in a small room that no one except for a few could enter, was another sound: the sound of glass breaking.<p>

It was a small jar that once rested on a long, rotted shelf amongst others like it. The glass shards lay scattered, light green fluid with minute flecks of orange dripping down to the table below. Floating a few inches above the mess was a stone. It could have passed for obsidian were it not for the patches of light green that glowed here and there through the cracked like lines that painted its surface.

"Hm…that was faster than expected."

A leather gloved hand reached out and plucked the stone from its place, holding it up as dark eyes studied it.

"It didn't even finish absorbing everything before the kid took it out. Hell, we just got back."

"He's a quick little death god," a voice called from a dark corner of the room, the sound of steel scraping against hard granite following after. "That's a good thing, yes?"

"Yeah, but I was actually looking forward to see where this one went," the other sighed. "Lived a good forty years and took a while to find the right parts."

There was a low chuckle. "You sound like a mother who lost their child."

"Shut up. And it would be more like a proud _dad_, thanks."

"Whose one of many sons went off to war? You still have plenty out on the field."

"You and your metaphors. Just send the report already."

Another low chuckle as the one sharpening the knife shifted, boots thudding against the floor as the buckles of many belts rustled against one another. "What should it say?"

"Tell her he took the bait." The voice paused as the hand holding the strange stone brought it closer to the bearer's face, eyes narrowing as it watched the green splotches slowly darken to black. A smile formed. "…And things may get a little more interesting."

"Oh?" The other figure leaned in to watch the stone. "What's it doing?"

"I have no idea. If he killed it then it shouldn't be doing this." A smile. "Guess I'll have to hold onto this a little longer."

"So you're not sending it over?"

"Nah…not yet. Tell her I'll send it once it finishes. It won't be as complete as the other one, but it'll still do the job."

"There's not much left, anyway."

"And we'll have plenty of leftovers. So just a few more to go."

The chair creaked as the one holding the stone leaned back to stare up at the wall of glass jars that lined the several shelves before them, each one filled with similar looking stones. Each stone was at a varying state of blackness, some darker than others. It was the bottom shelf that held the blackest ones, one so black that the liquid within the jar was also stained black. The hand tossed the stone up and down as eyes focused on the black jar.

"Just a few more…"

* * *

><p>From above, the island of Dyer's Cove had an unusual shape. The northern and main part of the body rounded into an almost perfect circle, but it sloped inward, making the southern portion curve into a hook like shape. It was like a curved tear drop of sorts. Mangroves covered a large portion of it, and as he flew lower, Kid realized that only the southern curve and the eastern slope of the island was actual ground. The rest was just covered in mangrove trees and marshland. Most of the inside curve served as a beach with an open cave situated near where the sandy shores turned into rock. The water along the shore was an odd crystal blue, and as he landed he made yet another discovery. What gave the water its color was not the water itself, but the sun's light reflecting off the thousands of small cerulean stones that littered the coast under the water.<p>

Like on Verrills, the moment they landed the girls transformed out, Liz stretching her arms as she did. Patti immediately went to the water, crouching down to stare into it.

"Hey, sis, check this out," she called over.

"Wow, these are _gorgeous_!" Liz breathed as she came to her sister's side and picked one up. Its shape was similar to the island—a strange tear drop shape with a curved, hooked bottom. But as she held it to the light, she paused. "Oh—it's like the jewelry back in Gallows."

"Really?" Patti moved closer to the older girl for a better look. "Whoa, it looks like there's water inside!"

"I know, right?" As she tilted the crystal to catch the sun's light, there was an odd shimmering as the light's reflection danced through the crystal's structure. With its light cerulean coloring, it really did look like there was water inside, but a quick shake proved that there was not any inside. It was solid rock. Or crystal? She then turned to Kid. "Hey, Kid, you should really look at this."

"Later," he said brusquely as he walked past them toward the cave. "We need to keep moving."

The light grin that had been on her face slowly disappeared before she sighed and turned to her sister, pocketing the crystal. "Come on, Patti. Break time's over."

As soon as he sensed the girls were near him, he glanced back at them before focusing his attention back to the cave ahead. The girls had been too distracted to notice that the seemingly (sub)tropical paradise was less idyllic than it looked. Although it could have served as the perfect poster island for Bermuda's tourism agencies and romantic getaway locations, there was something sinister lurking here. Not only could he not hear any sounds of birds or insects, he could not detect even the minutest of souls. Even those of fish were scarce. The fact that he could not use his Soul Perception around the cave was also suspicious. Each time he tried, he would find himself blocked from venturing more than a certain range.

Something else inhabited this island. He just did not know what. Yet.

They walked in silence, the small shards of sea shells crunching under their shoes as they walked along the sand. But as they neared the cave, Liz realized a little too late that there were fewer shells and more _bones_. They were small, likely fish or some other sea creature, but seeing so many scattered about the shoreline brought little comfort. For all they knew there _could_ be human remains somewhere buried here, and that thought made her cross her arms.

Her grip only tightened when they reached the entrance as a sudden chill in the air greeted them. The cold wind that breathed from the cave's mouth only increased the sense of foreboding from the darkness within. Other than the sound of the wind whistling through, the ocean water lapping against the rock walls, and the echoes of water dripping from its ceiling, it was silent. The sun was also starting to set, which made the air even tenser.

"Liz, you brought the flashlight, right?"

Kid's sudden voice made her jump a little before she nodded. "Uh, yeah, hold on." She then pulled her small backpack around and pulled out the requested item, handing it to him. The one good thing about being a weapon was that when transformed, all their gear came with them. "…Are we really going in there?" she asked warily.

He did not answer as he turned on the flashlight. There was a small, rocky path that lined the innermost part of the cave. Small pools and puddles covered it, and the glistening of the smooth surface was more than enough evidence of its hazardous state. Carefully he stepped a few feet into the mouth of the cave, waiting until he could place a hand against a nearby column made of lime and calcite that was likely formed hundreds of years ago. He scanned the area with the light, studying the rock walls before sending it directly into the darkness. The only things that were visible were the rocky cave walls, more stone columns in addition to the standard fare arrangement of stalactites and stalagmites, and the ocean water that flowed into it. He could hear the faint echo of water further in, indicating that the water must run deeper into the cave.

Now that he was more inside the cave, Kid wondered if his Soul Perception would work any differently. He did not have much to lose, so he tried again. At first he could not sense anything, but he also did not feel the barrier that had blocked him before. In fact, it was almost as if it had disappeared. After a moment of wondering, he deepened his search, pausing only when he thought he felt something.

"…There's something in there, but I'm not sure what," he said, his voice giving a slight echo.

"Do you think it's another one of those weird kishin egg things?" Liz asked as she kept a close eye on him.

"Hold on." Kid took a few more careful steps forward and focused. It seemed the further he went in, the easier it was for him to use his Soul Perception. He half wondered if it had something to do with the cave's structure when he felt that all too familiar wave of madness. But there was more to it. A defining wavelength that made him straighten and widen his eyes. "It's here," he murmured to himself before he turned to them. "The kishin egg we were sent for has been hiding here."

"What, seriously?" Liz said, her eyes widening. _A cave. Of course it had to be in a_ cave. "Why didn't we look here first?"

"Considering this island's location being in the opposite side of where the attacks occurred, I imagine they assumed that it would have its lair closer to its feeding grounds," he answered as he made his way back to the girls, taking extra care not to step in the puddles.

"Feeding grounds…do you really have to say it like that?" she groaned.

He just gave her a look before continuing. "We'll have to be careful. It's still some time before nightfall, so we may be able to sneak in and take it out before it awakens."

"But it's dark in there," Liz countered. "We might flash the light on it or make some noise."

"And there's also the risk that we might get trapped in the darkness and be at the disadvantage," Kid murmured as he tried to think of the best strategy. "The path is also slippery and narrow in some areas. But if we wait for night, it will still have the upper hand."

"Maybe we should just call Morgan and ask for help. We know where it is and it doesn't know _we_ know…right?"

"No, it could move or go out to hunt for more souls. By the time they arrive it will be too late." They had finally found their target and he did not want to ruin this opportunity.

Liz had been afraid he would say that. "Maybe we can lure it out?"

"How?"

"I know how to get it out," Patti finally spoke up. Her voice was light and playful, but as she stepped toward the cave, a dark, mischievous grin appeared. A grin that only appeared whenever she went into her "dangerous gangster" mode.

Both Liz and Kid paled as they both yelled, "No, Patti, don't—!"

"_HEY BAT! WE KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE SO COME ON OUT AND STOP HIDING YOU FUCKING BASTARD. THINK YOU'RE SO TOUGH AND SAFE IN YOUR LITTLE CAVE, AAAAAH? WELL WE'RE GONNA KILL YOU DEAD!_"

_And there she goes_, Liz groaned. _Also, if you're going to kill someone they're going to be dead…_

Kid on the other hand took Patti's sudden action with less repose. "Patti, what the hell were you thinking!" he hissed as he grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

The girl only gave him a wink and raised her hand with the gesture for victory. "That should get its attention, right?"

He just gaped. "Are you insa—"

A high pitched shriek from deep within the cave interrupted him. It was immediately followed by a high frequency sound that forced them all to brace themselves and cover their ears. As they did, millions of bats burst through the cave mouth, all of them crying out as their wings drummed the air. Liz let out a small scream of her own as she moved back more to the outside of the cave wall for cover, Kid and Patti soon joining her just to be out of the massive army of bats' way.

It took a full minute before all of the bats cleared and silence filled the area once more. As Kid watched them disappear into the now deep orange sky, he had a sudden realization and froze. He had not sensed the souls of those bats. There had been so many and no matter how small the souls may be, there was no way he could have missed their presence. He had even felt the madness. _How did…_ The images of the spiders from the day before flashed through his mind and in the next instant he called out to his weapons.

Just as they appeared into his hands, there was another ear piercing shriek before a giant, black blur shot through the cave. The madness that followed slammed into Kid so hard he staggered backwards as his head pounded. Even the Thompson sisters flinched as they felt it hit them. But it was different. Not only did they feel the twinges of insanity distort their vision and thinking, they also felt _pain_. Kid in particular felt a strange pang in his chest, similar to the one he felt back on the other island. But this time it was twice as painful.

As soon as it passed, Kid gasped for air before spinning around to face the creature that hovered in the air above them. The body was twisted and grotesque, the face wrinkled, its snout scrunched up with three red eyes—

_Insanity_.

—that glowed as it stared down at them. Instead of fur, the remnants of sunlight glistened and reflected off what looked to be some kind of scaly material. It was not as large as the others before it, but it seemed to hold more power than the other corrupt kishin eggs combined. A soul so large that Madness pulsed with every beat of its tattered, leathery wings.

This was it.

This was their quarry.

This was the one they had been searching for.

"Congratulations, little death god," the bat said with a sneer on its twisted face. "You found my lair. Though you probably had some help with that, yes?" A twisted, fanged grin. "But can you _catch_ me long enough to _kill_ me?"

It released a high pitched laughter, a kind that no normal creature could possibly make, and with a mighty flap of its wings it ascended high into the air before flying toward the rising laughing moon.

* * *

><p>"Kid, this is crazy!" Liz yelled at him as they sped through the skies. "There's not much light left!"<p>

The dark orange skies were steadily turning to a strange crimson as the blues and violets of night crept toward them from the direction the bat disappeared to. But Kid did not need a visual to track it down. He only needed to follow the repugnant trail of madness it left behind. Perhaps it was this madness that was driving him to throw caution into the wind and follow it. Even if it was, he did not care. He needed to take it down and he continued to ignore his weapon's pleas.

Kid was also trying to come to terms with the fact that what had once been a normal animal was now not only a powerful kishin egg on the verge of becoming a full fledged kishin, but could also _speak_ and _think_ like a human being. It was the complete opposite of how a kishin egg evolved. Usually a human that turned into a kishin egg would devolve into a creature of no reason and act only to consume more souls for power. But he had felt it. He had felt the core presence of the bat's soul as well as the now familiar corrupted wavelengths shared by the spider and the crab.

_What the hell is going on here?_

It was not too long before he could make out the black outline of their target. It was fast, but it could not compete against the demonic skateboard when it hit full speed.

Or it may have deliberately slowed its pace so that he could catch up.

When they were within range, Kid raised the guns and fired several rounds. With surprising agility and without even looking back, the bat dodged them all, twisting and swerving in mid-air before spinning around to release an attack of its own. Large balls of soul energy hurtled toward them, forcing Kid to bank hard to the side to avoid them. Undaunted Kid continued the assault the moment he was clear, maneuvering the skateboard with well practiced ease to try and come around to close the gap.

This continued for several rounds, with Kid utilizing both long range and close combat tactics. He would veer around, gaining momentum and speed and using cloud cover before slamming the skateboard into the body of the bat. But the body was much harder than he had expected and he had to be quick to push back off to avoid the claws that lined the wings as the bat spun around to counter. It also made him more vulnerable to any sudden blasts the bat released and several times he felt the burning heat as one brushed past him.

But as Liz feared, there was not enough time and the sky quickly darkened into night. The only light that was afforded to them was the moon as it watched the battle, its deep rumbling laughter echoing into the night.

"Give it up, little death god," the bat laughed, the sound like broken glass scraping against hard stone. "There's no way you can win now."

"Damn it," Kid gritted his teeth as he took a moment to catch his breath, the skateboard skimming a few feet above the water's surface as he stayed low to keep up the momentum. Although they were a strong team and still had plenty of energy to continue fighting, they were not coming into this battle fresh. It was also an additional strain to concentrate and direct the skateboard. He could feel his hands becoming raw from gripping the handguns so tightly, not wanting to risk losing and dropping one into the ocean below.

"Kid, we really should just retreat and go back," Liz's voice came from his right. "You can track him down again!"

"Why not just use Death Cannon and blow his ass out of the air?" Patti called out from his left.

"It would take too long to charge and it's a straight shot—it would be easy for it to dodge it," Kid answered, his eyes never leaving the bat that seemed to be waiting for him. It was like the bat was taunting them—and it infuriated him.

The bat smirked at them. "Calling a time out, are we? Take your time, take your time. Gives my little helpers more time to scout out more souls for me."

At those words Kid stiffened, his look hardening as he shouted out to the bat. "So you _are_ responsible for the recent soul hunter attacks."

"Responsible? For those little pirates? " The bat flapped its wings once before it started to fly in a circle around them. "Oh I don't know about _that_, but they do help. I scratch their back, they scratch mine. You could say I _owe_ them, but at this point it's likely to be the other way around. Besides, I prefer my own little minions. They know what I like best."

_What?_ Was this creature not in charge of the soul hunters? Seeing the confusion on the Kid's face only made the bat laugh again.

"Haha, you don't know, you don't know! You don't know _anything._ And I bet you're wondering what I am, too, aren't you?"

The bat suddenly shot upward, its black body disappearing into the darkness. Immediately Kid activated his Soul Perception but he could find… _Nothing? How is this—_

"Possible?"

The voice made him spin around, arms raised to fire as he found the bat hovering a feet away from him. The three red eyes glowed as a grin twisted upward on its wrinkled face.

"I'm a special one you see. Different from the ones you took down earlier. Maybe a few more decades and they could have developed, but they were flawed to begin with."

He could shoot. He had a perfect line of sight and all it would take is just a sudden barrage. Then he could kick the bat down and charge up the Death Cannon, firing it downward. There would be no way for the bat to defend itself. But this was just like back on the train when that Fisher King was telling him about Eibon and his father. Lies or truths, the bat was talking and this was something he needed to hear.

"What are you?" Kid finally asked, his guns still trained on the bat.

The bat's smirk only twisted further upward. "Just a little bat that got a little touched in the head." It bent a wing and a claw tapped its head in a mocking gesture.

"So you really were just a bat."

"Yes, and what a tragic tale it is!" the bat swooned, raising a wing in a dramatic gesture as it gazed toward the grinning moon. "But that was—what—a century or so ago? Oh how the time flies."

_A century?_ Kid could only stare at the bat wide-eyed, his mouth open. "How…but that…"

"_Im_possible, now?" Once again the bat circled and once again Kid could only follow. "For your little group to not have even caught me or even heard about me?" Again the bat laughed, spinning in the air before once more merging into the darkness. But before Kid could even turn, the bat was suddenly looming just a few inches away from his face, the three glowing red eyes staring into his. "Guess dear ol' dad is slipping, huh?"

Immediately the shots rang out, the skateboard flying back upward as Kid created distance between them. Holes littered the body that hung in the air as if by an invisible string, and all Kid could do was try to catch his breath and calm his nerves. How could he not sense it? How had it— That was when he heard the clap and whipped around again to find…

There in one perfect piece was the bat _clapping_ with the tips of its wings.

"Madness! Gotta love it," the bat laughed, and it was then that Kid realized that he had been under the influence of madness the whole time, most likely the moment the bat had disappeared. A quick glance only proved it. What he had shot was not the bat but just some cloud that had gathered.

"But there are a lot of reasons why I like it. It has so many uses!" It seemed impossible for that mouth to stretch any higher, but it did. The ends of the lips almost reached the two pointed ears that protruded near the top of its head, the red eyes now flashing orange. "Let me sing you a sweet lullaby about it. It's a knock out."

Before Kid could react, the bat opened wide its mouth. He expected to hear some kind of sound, but there was nothing. Instead he saw the air distort and ripple before pulses of madness slammed into his body. The screams of dead souls wailing filled his mind, the images of their torn and bloody corpses warping into the ones that had hung in their webbed coffins and lay wasted on the bloody beach. They were reaching out to him, the rotting flesh dripping from their skeletal hands.

But there was more to it than that. In the next instant he let out a yell, a hand clutching his chest near where his soul resided. It was not just the illusions of madness. That had been a feint. The real attack was to his _soul_. The vibrations ripped through him like a never-ending current and it was a pain he had never felt before. It pulsated and drummed through the core of his body and it was all he could do to maintain some kind of control and not fall the hundreds of feet to the ocean waters below. He could hear his weapons shouting at him. He could hear Patti cussing the bat out with every single word of profanity that existed—and possibly more. He could feel Liz's soul tightened in panic and terror as she tried to reach out to him to find out what was happening to him. She was the one closest to his chest and thus felt the waves the strongest. But he did not want her to get so close out of fear that it might spread to her and to Patti.

And that was when he felt it. No, he _heard_ it.

A sharp _snap_ as the connection between his soul and the sisters broke.

Immediately he felt his hands burn, sharp stabs of electricity firing into his hands that almost made him drop the guns. It was all he could do to keep a hold of them and he was even having trouble controlling the demonic skateboard. Without the connection, the jets would sputter and fail, causing him to wobble before he forced them to work again.

From inside, the girls could also feel the heat and pain from the dissonance of their soul wavelengths. They could not even resonate with each other. They almost transformed but it was only through sheer willpower that they maintained their weapon forms. Despite the pain they knew they had to stay in their gun forms for both their safety and their meister's.

But even without the direct connection, Kid could still feel their pain bouncing back to him, and he could hear them cry out from the pain (though from Patti it was more swearing and rage) and struggle. Infuriated he looked back up at the bat. Even if it meant he would have to use every last ounce of strength he had, he wanted to fly over and slam his fist into that disgusting creature's face. That desire only strengthened when he saw the twisted smirk. Maybe it was the increasing amount of madness that surrounded them that fueled his rage, but again he did not care. All he wanted was to beat the living shit out of it for hurting his weapons. But if only he had the power to…

He felt something beat within him.

_Use it._

_ You have it._

Two—no, three voices.

_ **Use it.**_

That's right.

_The bat's smile heightened further._

He _did_ have power.

_It was laughing._

With a yell he summoned everything he had and invoked the power of madness that rested within him. The surge of power spread from him to his weapons, but that still did not reestablish their resonance. If anything it only made it worse, but he was too caught up in his need to _destroy_ the thing smiling and hovering in front of him to really notice. Ignoring the pain and the protests from his weapons, he forced the skateboard to fly straight toward the bat. It happened within a blink of an eye. Even the bat had been caught by surprise as Kid slammed his shoulder into its chest. The force pushed them back several feet, the bat flapping its wings in attempt to maintain flight.

"Brilliant, brilliant!" the bat cried as it swerved around, creating some distance between itself and Kid.

Kid's leap into the air and bringing his heel down toward its face was his only response. It missed, but the demonic skateboard was there for him to land on. With the madness still pumping through him, he swerved the board around, eyes still locked onto the bat.

"Liz, Patti, concentrate and resonate!"

By this time Liz felt like her whole body was burning and the madness was starting to affect her temper. Hearing her meister command them to do what seemed like the impossible just pissed her off more. "Are you an idiot! There's no way we can—not like this!"

"Stop whining and do it!" Kid only yelled and suddenly the girls felt a large pulse of his soul wavelength push into them.

It was wrong. It was completely off and twisted. And it hurt like hell.

"_Ow!_ Kid what the fuck is wrong with you!" Liz shouted, her anger rising as she pushed right back.

"Oh, a domestic fight," the bat cackled.

"Shut up!" Patti yelled. "It's your fault Kid is all fucked up right now!" Although she felt it as well, she seemed to be the least affected out of the three.

"I could fix that if you'd like." The smile the bat gave was not as wide, but it was more twisted than before.

"Forget it, I'll do this myself!" Kid shouted. The madness was driving him. It was driving him to once again fly headfirst into his opponent.

But he would not get that far.

It only took one pulse.

One beat of the bat's own wavelength that emanated from its corrupted soul.

One second for Kid to suddenly freeze and falter.

One foot to close the gap between him and the bat as the board came to a sudden halt.

One wave of pain as he once again felt the attack on his soul.

One smile—

"Nighty night, little death god!"

One blast of energy.

"Come play again soon."

And then they fell.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN: **__And now you can see why I cut the original chapter in half, haaa. The beginning portion probably would have been better at the end the previous chapter, but I only recently added it in. Oops. But this should be the last hard action sequence of events for a couple of chapters until it builds up again, and there should be more development and potential for some simple fluff moments. Just the little hints and things to get that ball rolling. Actually the next chapter or two should have a few little moments. Speaking of which, in my last note I mentioned how I changed the categories, but I just wanted to clarify that there _will_ be romance…it just won't become more concrete or really developed until late in the story. So in the meantime there will be the little things and events that will help develop it, but not like a whirlwind of romance type of deal. _

_A lot of things have happened, and it might feel like a giant hot mess—I'm sure it feels that way to the characters—but things will start to fall into place as more pieces come together. Or rather, when the less obvious pieces become obvious. But if you think this story had a simple plot or was purely based off the Bermuda Triangle conspiracies…_

_Think again._


	8. The Mermaid's Grace, the Forever Call

It Is What It Is

Chapter 8

_**Disclaimer: **I do not own Soul Eater or any of its characters. _

* * *

><p><em>Three red eyes.<em>

Those were the last things Kid saw before his back slammed into the water, the cold rushing over them as he sank down several feet into the ocean's dark, murky depths, the sisters still in their gun forms as he clutched them close to his chest. He managed to stay conscious long enough so that he would not swallow water when he submerged and thought he would be able to swim back up to the surface, but he had suffered more damage than he realized. Due to the internal damage that had been inflicted upon him before, he was unable to hold out for more than a few seconds. His vision faded and his hold loosened over the twin demon pistols.

Liz and Patti, however, suffered far less damage from the impact. Both Kid and their weapon forms protected them, and though they still felt the pain from the earlier dissonance, they were able to stay conscious and retain some sense of orientation. Neither knew whether the water that filled their barrels and chambers would in some sense drown them, but they did not have to worry for long. The moment they felt their meister's grip loosen, the girls glanced at one another, took deep breaths, and transformed to their human forms. The water was _cold_ and they could barely see anything due to the darkness. But they kept a firm hold on his arms and kicked hard back up to the surface. It was only when they broke through did they gasp for air.

"Sis—I don't think Kid's breathing!" Patti suddenly yelled as she tried to keep his head upright. "Come on, Kid, wake up!"

"What!" She moved closer to his face—why was it so pale?—and listened closely before pressing her hand to his chest and neck. He was a freaking _death god_ and had been stabbed and slammed and even had his arm torn off. If he were to die just from a simple drowning— "No—wait I can feel a pulse and his breathing is just really faint," she said, her body relaxing with relief. "But we need to get him out of the water soon."

Patti stared at Kid, her hands gripping his arm tightly as she tried to peer closer into his face. Like her sister, she knew he had gone through a lot before and that he could take quite a beating. But she could not remember the last time she had seen look so close to…well, actual _death_. _Kid…_ As she continued to hold him up, she happened to glance past him and noticed something floating nearby. Her eyes widened with recognition. "It's the skateboard!"

While Patti had been focused on Kid, Liz had tried to see if she could sense or see anything around them in the water. But at her sister's shout, she quickly turned, her eyes searching before she spotted it. "Yes!" Liz exclaimed as she swam toward it and brought it back. "Just get his upper half on here. At least we can use this to float on."

It would also save the energy, but that still left them floating in the middle of the ocean. They also had their backpacks still, but everything was soaked, including their cell phones. They also had no idea how far away they were from the nearest island and Liz could not remember seeing any boats nearby even when they were flying after the bat. Even though they had managed to survive, how much longer could they last? For now, it was just them and the ocean.

After they were situated on the board and after several failed attempts at rousing their meister, Patti stuck close by Kid before looking over the slumped shoulders to her older sister. "What do we do now, sis?"

Liz was also watching Kid from her side, glad that while the board did dip a little into the water because of their weight, they were able to keep it mostly even above the surface. At her sister's question, however, she had to avert her eyes as she looked out over the open waters before them. One good thing about their world's odd, grinning moon was that there would always be moonlight unless there were clouds to obscure it. Tonight was rather clear, but she did remember Morgan telling Kid about the incoming storm that was coming later in the week. They were already three days in.

Glancing at the sky, it did not look like there would be any stormy weather, but who was to say they would not be stuck drifting out here for more than a day? If they were to get caught in something like that… Even without the threat of a storm, the day's summer heat would also be a problem. A water bottle or two might have survived, but that was not going to last them long, either. The only good thing she could make out was the fact that there were no signs of the bat. It was a bit of a relief knowing that it had not waited for them to resurface so it could finish them off, so that was one less problem to worry about.

With the sky clear, she looked back over the water. From where they were currently floating, all she could see and hear were the rolling waves of the ocean. She tried to squint and see if she could make some distant landform or even the distant lights from a boat, but she could not. It was times like these when she wished she had the ability to transform into some kind of sniper rifle or at least have the ability to use a scope on her weapon form.

"…I really can't see anything," Liz finally admitted as she settled back into the water. "But we can't just float around here. We could try swimming in a direction…" But how far would they have to go and would they even have the strength to make it?

"Maybe we could try following the waves?" Patti suggested. "They always crash onto a beach…right?"

"Do you remember seeing any nearby islands when we were in the sky?" Liz asked, her voice lowering as her eyes drifted to the still unconscious Kid.

Patti shook her head. "No…I was too focused on the bat."

Liz sighed. "Yeah…me, too. But we might as well start swimming. Let's just do it slow and hope we run into a boat."

"Okay," the younger girl nodded, and together the two sisters slowly pushed and kicked their legs against the skateboard. It was rocky going at first, with frequent stops to keep Kid from slipping off. But eventually they got the hang of it and were slowly swimming forward through the darkness.

* * *

><p>He was dreaming. Or at least, it felt like he was dreaming. No, not dreaming. Swimming. Yes, he was swimming underwater. At first everything was a hazy blur as he slowly opened his eyes, but it began to clear as he continued to blink and tried to focus his vision. He could feel his clothes swaying in the water, the bangs of his hair drifting in front of his eyes, yet he did not feel wet. But it was deep—too deep to not have any scuba gear. Wait. He wasn't wearing scuba gear? So how was he breathing? Wait, he was breathing underwater? Small streams of bubbles flowed from his nose as he inhaled and exhaled as if he were breathing in air.<p>

_What is the power that you seek?_

Ah, right. It was like that one time in the book. Yet this was not some strange environment created by the black mass of Power. No, this was the ocean. He could taste the salt of the water. One could not taste things while dreaming, could they? But when did he fall asleep? If it was not a dream, what was it? And what had he been doing before?

_Bermuda…_

Yes, that's right. He was in Bermuda, so this must be the Atlantic Ocean. He was here for…a mission. A mission for what? He shook his head as he felt a light but irritating pounding. His memory was fragmented, but he could feel the small bits and pieces slowly coming back into place.

As he swam forward in an attempt to orient himself, he wondered. Was this the first time he swam in the waters here? Three days in and he had yet to really dive into the ocean. There had been no time. Mission first, playtime later. That had been his mindset.

…Playtime with whom? What had been the mission again?

He was alone here, but for some reason that did not feel right. Like there was a void on his right and left.

_…id…._

A wave. A ripple. An underwater current of sorts. He could feel it flowing through his body and through his soul, disrupting his thoughts. This "current" caused him to stop and look around, his eyes narrowing. It was faint, but there was no mistake. It was a wave of—

_Madness._

* * *

><p>They had swum for half an hour before Liz had to call for a break and Patti made no protest. She, too, was starting to feel the fatigue from both their recent injuries and having to swim and push the skateboard with their still unconscious meister. The water made it easier to carry him, but it was still a difficult task for the two girls.<p>

Liz was taking another look around to see if she could see anything when she heard the splash of water on her right. Quickly she turned just in time to see what she swore was a tail. Tensing she moved closer toward Kid's unconscious body and looked over to her sister who was checking on Kid again. "…Patti did you see that?"

"See what?" she answered as she looked up.

"I swear I saw someth—_there, over there!_" she half shrieked and pointed wildly where there had been another loud splash and yet another tail. This time she was more than certain she saw it—a flash of silver scales and tail fins that seemed to feather out like a veil.

Then came the voices.

_They're stranded._

_Are these the ones who made all that noise up there?_

_So skinny._

_ How did they survive?_

_ They won't for much longer._

_ But we're not allowed to interact with humans._

_ They're not men. Well, two of them aren't. _

_ It should be okay then, right?_

_ But the boy…_

_ Wait, wait—isn't that…?_

_ …! No way!_

_ I heard they killed those two monsters._

_ Maybe they could help us?_

_ Let's help them._

_ Sure, why not._

"Hello."

Liz let out a loud scream when she heard the voice speak right next to her. She had been so preoccupied she stopped listening halfway through as she gripped Kid's arm, wishing that he would wake up. She actually shook him and whispered his name several times in hopes that maybe hearing his weapon in distress would rouse him.

So seeing a young girl's face suddenly staring at her with three more appearing out of the water was far from comforting. This was especially so when their eyes were wider than the standard human eye and of solid coloring with no discernable pupil. They varied, but the one closest to her had light orange eyes and she could see the slits along her neck that served as the gills. Liz could not help but stare as she watched the thin flesh move in and out as the other girl breathed. It did not take a genius to guess that the creature she was facing was a mermaid. She had heard of them and read about them, but never thought she would meet one, let alone believe they really existed.

"That one." The girl finally spoke as she nodded her head to Kid. "He is the son of Lord Death, is he not?" The voice was strange. It was stilted, but also melodic at the same time.

"…What's it to you?" Liz answered a little warily. It was getting harder and harder to keep Kid's true identity a secret, and if these really were mermaids, then it was pointless to try and lie about it.

"If he stays the way he is he will surely die," another said, her green eyes almost glowing in the moonlight. "But we can help."

"How do we know we can even trust you?" Now that the initial shock had passed, Liz was in full protective weapon mode. She knew they were at the disadvantage, especially since she was not sure if she and Patti could resonate again yet. But a glance at her sister told her she was thinking the same thing and they were going to damn well try if they had to.

"You don't have much of a choice," a third said as she swam closer, her purple eyes so dark it was as if they absorbed the light. "Do you know what we are?"

"Well you stink of fish," Patti said as she kept close to Kid's body.

_Not now, Patti_, Liz thought desperately before saying, "Mermaids, I guess?" She stared at them. "Though I imagined you a little differently…"

"Like there are many species of fish, so are there different mermaids of the sea," the first said. Unlike the other two, she seemed to be friendlier, but Liz was not about to let down her guard, especially since the fourth had yet to say or do anything. "Your battle caught our attention and we sensed great power here."

Liz glanced at Kid. _You seriously need to stop attracting all these weirdos._ "If you think you're going to take our souls without a fight—"

"We do not wish to fight," the green-eyed one said. "Like I said, we only wish to help."

"Help us drown," Liz muttered. But if they really wanted them dead, they could have done it by now, or so she guessed. "How would you help us?"

The fourth one whom had not spoken yet swam silently toward them. It was eerie how the water barely broke as she moved, as if she were part of the water. Her eyes were a light, eggshell blue and her voice was so soft Liz had to strain a little to hear her. "Your souls are disrupted and no longer aligned with one another. We can offer some of our magic to help restore their balance."

"Really?" Patti perked up a little and looked at the mermaid with a little less distrust. She was still uncertain, but if they could help them, then maybe it was worth a shot. At least to her, the mermaids had not seemed threatening. They looked quite the opposite. She glanced at her sister and could see that the older girl was listening to them very carefully.

"Yes," the blue-eyed one said as she turned to the younger Thompson sister. "Through our song."

"Some weird sound was what messed us up in the first place," Liz said, still uncertain whether she can trust them or not. But in some ways it made sense. Maybe a different kind of sound could fix their wavelength frequencies and weren't mermaids known for their singing?

The mermaids glanced at one another. Although their mouths did not move, Liz could still hear their voices. It was as if they were speaking through the water.

_She doesn't trust us._

_ Maybe she thinks we're like our cousins?_

_ The ones who eat men? _

_Ugh, I never understood that._

_I thought they only drowned the ones who scorned them._

_Oh, you mean those._

_Wait, I'm confused._

_You've listened to too many fairy tales._

_You're mixing the stories of man with that of truth._

_Eating a soul is taboo for all merkind, anyway._

As interesting as the conversation was, Liz thought she felt Kid stir next to her. Her spirits lifted as she turned to him, hoping that he was regaining consciousness. But the moment was short lived when she saw that he was not awake and his breathing had worsened.

"Hey—guys? Look, you're right. We don't have much of a choice so if you really can help us—help _Kid_…" She sounded almost desperate now. "Anyway, he's getting worse, so could you hurry it up?"

The mermaids looked at one another before the first one with the orange eyes swam closer to Kid. Liz only stiffened as she watched as the mermaid studied him, again that sense of unease rising as she watched her closely. Up close she could see that her skin was actually made of fine scales that shimmered in the moonlight. Yet even so it looked eerily like normal human skin and except for the other odd characteristics such as the pointed tipped ears and stringy hair (did they not use conditioner?), the mermaid looked just like any other attractive human girl. It was no wonder the stories depicted them as the beautiful temptresses of the sea.

After several tense moments, the mermaid backed away. "It's worsening."

"What's worsening?" Patti asked.

"Let us take them to the island," the green-eyed one said, not answering her question. "It would be safer."

"Before the others notice," the purple-eyed one nodded.

"What others?" Liz asked as she looked between them, now becoming a little exasperated. It was obvious they knew more about what was happening to their meister but were not telling them anything.

The mermaids looked at one another before they swam around behind them. "Later. Now hold on."

"Hold onto wh—GAAAAHHH!"

* * *

><p>From deep within this ocean there was something lurking, reaching out through the dark, tendrils of insanity. Yet something was blocking it, preventing it from growing further. A strong power that he had never felt before. Could it be something similar to one of the Great Ones? Was one resting here beneath the ocean? Or was it something else entirely?<p>

He had to find out. He knew it was also calling him to it, but he also needed to know. He only had to resist and make sure he did not go farther than needed.

As he continued to swim forward, the waves of madness only grew stronger. But there was a light. A faint shimmer that glistened even in these dark depths. A light green color with tinges of bright blue. But there was some red in there. Red, orange, black. Purple? Was that possible? He did not know why, but these colors meant something and the purple and black ones were the most troubling. Diving down further, one started to drift up to him. It puzzled him. How could a crystal _float_ in water? It seemed to defy all sense of logic and physics, but then again this whole experience defied everything.

He reached out and took it. It seemed like a normal light green crystal, one that could be found anywhere.

_…Where had I seen this before?_

It seemed familiar, as if he had seen something similar not too long ago. Yet it was different. This one…

Turning it this way and that, he studied it before it started to change. As if it had been injected by a dye, the color started to change, starting from the inside center and spreading out to the outer edges. First it was a light orange, to red, and then black. The moment the black color reached where his fingertips touched the crystal, he felt a sharp sting as if the once smooth edges became jagged and sharp that cut into his flesh. Some of his blood seeped into it, mingling with the darkening color before he released his hold. The crystal plummeted back down like a heavy rock, the water doing little to slow it down. He stared at the small cut on his finger, the blood still flowing out and dispersing into the water before his natural healing abilities closed the wound.

Pain. He had felt pain. Was this really not a dream?

That was when the coldness started to sink into his skin and spread throughout his body. It felt like small ice crystals chipping into his insides, a million needles pricking into him as it spread.

Two pulses.

_…id…_

He had stayed too long, had gone farther than was safe. He needed to find a way out, but his arms and legs felt stiff. Just moving one took great effort. But he had to move. Move before he turned into crystal.

Turned into crystal? Didn't he mean become frozen?

It was so cold. Suffocating. Stiffening. Freezing.

It was as if he was turning into glass.

_No, I have to move_.

So he moved.

* * *

><p>While her sister let out a whoop of excitement, Liz was screaming at the top of her lungs as she felt something <em>large<em> rise up beneath them, lifting them out of the water. The surface was hard but also smooth and slippery, and it only took a glance down to realize what they were on.

A giant whale.

"This is a dream. No I'm dead. We died when we hit the water," Liz only repeated under her breath as she kept a firm hold on her still unconscious meister. _Kid you bastard stop sleeping and wake up, dammit!_

"Yahoo! We're riding on a whale!" Patti yelled beside her as the large creature sped through the waters, standing atop the back of the whale's large back and oblivious to her sister's distress. "This is _awesome_!"

"Patti, get _down_!" Liz cried out. Unlike her sister, she was finding this less than thrilling, particularly when she could see the mermaids leaping out of the water as they swam alongside their large friend or pet or whatever it was.

"It's too bad Kid is knocked out—he would have enjoyed this," the younger girl continued as she spread out her arms to feel the cool night wind rush past her, the occasional spray of water splashing her face. When one of the mermaids swam up close to her side, she called down to her, "Is this guy your friend?"

"Yes, he is," the mermaid called out. "You need not fear, for he is very gentle."

As if in response, a low rumble came from beneath them followed by a small spray of water that shot up from its spout behind them. It did little to ease Liz's nerves, though, and she just closed her eyes and continued to mutter various mantras of distraction and hope that they were not being taken to their secret home to be cooked for some weird mermaid dinner.

"Why do you talk so funny?" Patti giggled as she sat down to better converse with the swimming mermaid.

"Human tongue is not our native language."

"Whoa, really? What do you speak then?"

"That of merfolk of course."

"What does it sound like?"

The mermaid smiled. "It is very beautiful. Much better than your stiff words and gestures and flows like the waters of the seas. You will see when we sing. It will be in our native language."

_You all sounded pretty normal to me._ Liz did have to wonder a little about the difference in speech, but her mind was elsewhere. Glancing back down at Kid with a worried crease on her brow, she looked at the two mermaids that were on her side. "How much farther is it?" Liz asked.

"Not too far," one of the mermaids answered, her light blue eyes almost glowing in the dark. "There is one with a small village on the other side. Once we perform our song you should be able to get help from there." She then raised a hand. "See? Over there."

True to her word, the dark shadow of the approaching island could be seen not too far from them. At the speed the whale was swimming it would only be a few more minutes before they reached it, and with each passing moment Liz could allow herself to relax a little more. She pulled around her backpack, taking out a few supplies to see if she could try to salvage whatever was left. She could hear the glass bauble she had received earlier clinking against the other items inside and was a little relieved. It was a neat little thing and she would have felt bad if she lost it within a few hours of receiving it. Though that did make her wonder about another item she had acquired that day. _Where is that crystal…_

But before she could search deeper, she felt the whale slowing its pace. Or rather, she felt a sudden jerk and had to throw her arms forward to brace herself. "Ah—crap!" she yelled as a few loose items slipped out of the still open bag, but there was not much she could do about it now. She just gave a dismissive wave when one of the mermaids stopped as if to retrieve the items. They had more important things to take care of.

The whale went as far inland as it could without beaching itself, and with Patti's help Liz took the skateboard and Kid's right arm before they slid off the whale's back and swam the rest of the way to the beach. Once there, they dragged him onto shore. Liz had to groan and mutter about how this used to be so much easier when the young death god had been much shorter than them. _Why did you have to grow so much within the past year?_ she thought as she glanced at him. After setting him carefully down on the sand, the girls joined him and sat down on either side of him, facing the mermaids who waited in the shallows of the water.

"Okay, so what now?" Liz asked.

"We will restore the balance within your souls," the purple-eyed mermaid said. "It will hopefully help calm his as well," she added, nodding to Kid's still body lying on the sand.

Patti was ready, but a glance at her sister told her what she already knew. "It's okay, sis," she said as she reached out and took her sister's hand. "Plus if they wanted to eat us, they could have done that back while we were on the whale," she grinned.

"Patti, that really doesn't help," Liz sighed, but she squeezed the hand and turned back to the mermaids. "Okay." _Let's hope this works._

As one, the four mermaids closed their eyes. Liz watched them closely, but their mouths did not open. In fact, she could not hear anything other than the soft crash of waves and the sounds of the island's nocturnal inhabitants. But a moment later she heard a melody that added to the chorus of frogs and insects: a soft hum that rippled through the air like the waters of the ocean. Then she heard the female voices sing words that she could not understand. The melody rose and fell as smooth as a still water's surface, a stark contrast to how they spoke before. It was soothing, and when she closed her eyes to try and pick out more of the melody, all other sounds seemed to disappear as they were replaced by the mermaids' song.

Images of the ocean flashed through her mind. The sun's rays filtered through the water to cause the familiar shimmer of light through the dark green coloring. Schools of fish danced about as they darted left then right, forming small bubbles in their wake. Sea cliffs and rainbows of coral rose from the depths, creating a landscape she had only seen through pictures and TV. It was like looking into a painting that had come to life.

_Is this what they mean…to sing from the soul?_ Liz wondered as she allowed the song to ease her own soul and her own worries. Was that how they were singing so silently? Could Kid hear this, too? She found herself so much at peace that she was actually a little disappointed when it finished.

"That was…" she breathed.

"So _cool_!" Patti exclaimed. "How did you guys sing like that?"

"It is a special talent of the mermaid," the light blue-eyed mermaid smiled. "But now you should be healed."

Liz looked over at her sister as she slowly stood up. "I guess we should give it a try." Come on, Patti."

The younger girl gave a salute as she hopped up. "Roger!" Within the next instant there was a flash of light and she transformed, landing in her sister's waiting hand.

She had braced herself for the possible pain, but upon feeling none of it Liz stared in slight disbelief. "Wow, it worked!"

"I feel stronger, too," Patti called out, her face appearing on the side of the gun.

"Yeah it's like…the channel between us is clearer or something," Liz added before letting Patti transform back out and turning to the mermaids. "Thanks."

"It was our pleasure. Now all your souls should be he—"

At that precise moment Kid let out a yell as his body shook, a hand clutching his chest. The mermaids watched wide-eyed as Liz and Patti crouched down to him.

"Kid!"

* * *

><p>He tried moving up, but something was tugging him back down. Something strong. Something powerful. He glanced down, but though he could not see it he could feel something wrapped around his leg.<p>

The thing that lurked wanted him.

It could sense his soul, could sense who and what he was. It knew just like how he knew that it existed.

Two beats.

He still could not see it, but he could feel it. It was there. Something that was drawing in the madness. Something that was producing even more in return.

_Souls_.

Their presence was so sudden it was as if a million candles lit a dark room at once. In fact, that was exactly how it felt to him. He could sense the souls of hundreds, no, thousands, no…_millions_. They glittered around him like tiny shards of glass. Blue flames of life frozen in the depths of the ocean. Why were there so many?

Voices…he could hear voices. Were they the voices of the souls trapped here?

_Save us…help us…_

He thought he heard a song echoing faintly in the distance and turned toward it. It was as if it was trying to reach him, calling out to him. Maybe if he could…

_Clink._

Bubbles exploded from his mouth as he let out a silent yell of pain, clutching his chest as he hunched forward. The screams returned in his head as bloody images flashed through his mind. Dismembered corpses, monstrous creatures, sunken ships, three eyes—

What was this? Was he drowning? Was this the pain he was feeling? What were these images?

_…Kid!_

* * *

><p>"Kid! Hey, Kid!" Liz shouted, a hand on his shoulder.<p>

"Kid, what's wrong! What happened?" When there was no response, Patti turned toward the mermaids watching from the shallows. "I thought you said you would help him!" she yelled angrily.

* * *

><p>He could hear them now. He could hear their voices. Liz and Patti. They were the ones he had been missing, the ones that always filled that void on his right and left. But they were not with him right now. They were somewhere else. Where? Why? What happened to them?<p>

Bit by bit, the fragmented pieces started to come together. Images of them flying over the ocean, chasing something. Their target. The mission. The reason why they were in Bermuda.

_That's right…we were fighting…and then…_

The bat's face appeared in his mind with that twisted face smirking down at him even as the water had engulfed them.

He had used the power of madness.

He had tried to force his soul wavelength onto his weapons so they could resonate.

They had been completely broken, and as their meister he had led them to only more pain and suffering.

_What kind of meister does that?_

_What kind of _death god_ does that?_

He could hear their voices; see their disappointed and hurt looks. It hurt more than the physical pain he felt inside as the sharp glass like pricks and punctures continued to spread. Was this why he was down here alone? Or was he alone because—

_They're dead._

Fear gripped his mind as their fall replayed over and over in his mind, each time the ending changing. First he had them safe, but then they were drowning in the water, trapped in their weapon forms and unable to change back.

_No, no, no, no—!_

* * *

><p>"We did," the orange-eyed one said quickly. "We do not know what happened."<p>

"The song should have healed him," the purple-eyed one added.

"There must be something else," the blue-eyed one cried as she looked to the others.

"But we do not know…" the green-eyed one started but gasped and jerked backwards, almost diving into the water.

At her reaction, the other three turned to look and also stiffened. The sisters stared at them in slight confusion until they heard a soft _crunch_ of sand behind them.

* * *

><p><em>Clink, clink, clink.<em>

He had hurt them and was unworthy of being their meister.

He had abandoned them when they needed him most.

He should just let the coldness overtake him. His body already felt stiff and each breath felt as if sharp grains of glass were scratching against his throat and lungs. It was too difficult now. And with his weapons gone…with this mission failed…was there a point in returning?

Closing his eyes, he tried to hear their voices again, but he could not. He could not even feel the warmth of their souls.

Instead he felt the cold waves of madness trickling into him, poisoning him. But maybe it was better this way. Maybe he should just let the madness consume him.

Maybe it would be better if he stayed down here.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN: **Oh my lord this is another chapter that somehow exploded from what I originally had in mind and was cut in two. I had it all written up and then right before I went to upload I had a sudden thought on how to change it and…well this is it. This was supposed to be a more humorous chapter, too, sob.  
><em>

_There's a lot of perspective shifting going on here between the segments with Liz and Patti and the segments with Kid. I tried to match the two as well as I could since they were happening simultaneously, but eh. Well I tried. At least it gave the girls some much needed time in the spotlight. Oh, and this was a normal whale. Not a sky whale. It does not go BWOOOOOOOO. (Those who read the manga scanlations would know what I'm talking about.) …But it might go MWOOOOO. Where's Dori, she would know._

_And last side note—I am not sure how to feel about FF's new story cover image thing. I don't really plan on making one so it's currently using my default profile pic. Though I did change that to have Liz, Kid, and Patti so it kind of fits? And no, that's not fanart—that's from the most recent chapter, 99 (as of 6/13/2012). Aaah, we finally see that Kid has grown! I always suspected he had since the Salvage Arc, but it was always hard to tell without him standing next to his weapons and now we have proof! I am excited since I had wanted to write that in here as well but I was hesitant about including it (in fact one of my drafts had reference to their heights, but that part of the fic won't be for a few chapters yet if I do include it). Now I can without any worries. So hurrah \o/_


	9. Heartlines On Your Hand

It Is What It Is

Chapter 9

_**Disclaimer: **I do not own Soul Eater or any of its characters. _

* * *

><p>For a long while all Kid could feel was the sharp coldness that had enveloped both inside and outside his body. The ocean landscape had turned into a dark void, but it still felt as if he were still underwater. The fabric of his clothes and strands of hair continued to drift and shift every now and then. Perhaps he was still in that strange ocean environment and had merely descended further down into its depths. He lost track of time and stopped paying attention long ago, but the change had likely happened not too long after that strange song had somehow invoked those thoughts to start tumbling into his mind.<p>

The Madness pulsed through him, and despite that one moment of weakness, he resisted it. A small part of him still retained some sanity and was working hard to repel the negative thoughts that bit and snapped at his weakened mind and soul. Instead he tried to find the source of the Madness. To follow the threads and see where it led him. If he were to be consumed, then he at least wanted to know how. It also irritated him a bit since this would be the second time where he found himself in such a situation.

However instead of being trapped in a book, he was trapped somewhere far worse—inside _himself_. It had taken him some time to reconnect his scattered thoughts, but he was able to figure out at least that much. What other logical explanation was there? They had fallen into the ocean and he blacked out. It would also help explain why his subconscious had planted him inside an ocean environment. Perhaps the visions he saw were just that—visions.

_Souls…millions of souls…_

But that was still not right—there was something else affecting him. It was either within his self or some external force, but there was _something_. Otherwise why had he seen such strange images? He could barely remember all of what he saw, but he could remember those souls so clearly. This "something" was likely the cause, and it was this "something" he was trying to find.

There was a risk to this, however. He knew that he had the power of Madness within him, the one that the Old One had granted both him and Black*Star back in the Book of Eibon, and it could be this that he was sensing. Although he had a tight control over it, if he was not careful it could overtake him.

Just like with the battle with the bat.

So the further he went, the more powerful the Madness became and several times he had to pull back. The negative thoughts and images would once again flood his mind and there would be that painful tightening in his chest. But no, that was not it. The threads were leading him somewhere else. There were certainly a few connected to the source he had within him—perhaps it was even drawing some of its strength from there. But it was not the center he was looking for. It was still further somewhere else. But where? And was it even inside him? He was beginning to wonder whether he should stop trying when he thought he heard something.

Or rather, felt something.

_Clink, clink, clink._

It was like a vibration of sound that tugged at one of the invisible threads he felt wrapped around him. But this was a different thread. Looking down at his right hand he saw the faint shimmer of light green. At first he thought it really was some kind of thread, but closer inspection revealed it to be a thin trail of smoke. His eyes followed the trail and in the far distance he could see something he had not seen before: a small spot of light the size of the tip of a tiny needle.

Someone was trying to reach him.

_Clink, clink, clink._

As he tried to move toward it, however, some invisible force pulled him back. As he turned back, a cold blast of air hit him, the coldness stinging his face like small chips of ice crystals. Raising his right arm as a shield, he glanced away until it ended before slowly reopening his eyes and looking back forward. What he found looking back startled him.

It was distant, but he could see two orange colored spheres seeming to float in the darkness. They blacked out before appearing again, almost like—

_Blinking eyes._

The two spheres slowly grew larger—or were they coming closer?—before they stopped. Again they "blinked" but when they reappeared, the two spheres had broken into hundreds of smaller spheres that formed a mosaic-like pattern. Before Kid could fully comprehend what had happened, the spheres flashed red and scattered to surround him.

_A forest of eyes._

There was a tense moment as he floated there, staring into the small red spheres as he felt an emotion that was triggered only every once in a while. A feeling that went beyond being shocked or stunned.

It was fear.

Fear that he was about to be consumed by the Madness that pulsated from the red spheres as they crept inward.

Fear of what would happen _after_.

Fear of what he would do—of what he would **become**.

Death was not what he feared—at least not his own.

It was the death of others by his own hands that he feared.

The deaths of—

_Hey, Kid!_

He needed to get out.

But just as the thought entered his mind, he felt something warm around his wrists. The light green thread had disappeared and in its place were a pair of soft pink ones—one on his right and one on his left. Compared to the light green one, these were more solid and glowed with familiar warmth that flowed into him. A warmth that helped melt away the coldness that had started to overtake him and broke some of the bonds that held him there.

_Could these really…?_

Before he could finish that thought or even begin to try and answer it (even though deep down he already knew), a strange chanting broke through the silence and filled the air. Words he did not understand bounced off the spheres, making them shake and rattle, creating a new sound that made him wince at its high pitch. It was like listening to a combination of white noise and the vibrations of a tuning fork slamming into glass repeatedly.

As if angered by the sudden intrusion, the spheres gathered upon themselves, rising and cresting over like a wave. By this time Kid started to move backwards, but his movements were still sluggish and strained. He braced himself for the impact, preparing to at least try and withstand it, when he was suddenly jerked back by a force that was even greater than what had tried to keep him there.

The pink threads pulled on his wrists, and there was a moment where his body was dragged through the void like a broken rag doll. As he looked back, he watched the wave of red spheres crash down upon the spot he had just been moments before and spread out toward him like rushing water. But now the spheres had changed shape. They now had legs. How many he could not tell, but they were gaining fast.

The chase did not last long, however. The pink threads disappeared as a wall of masks appeared between him and the flooding spheres, and for a brief moment all Kid could see were the faces of the masks—black wooden masks with large hollow eyes and gaping mouths. Crude green lines curved along the sides and each had what looked like strands of hair arranged in varying styles. But then as one, the masks swiveled around to face the oncoming onslaught. He expected to hear the loud thuds of the spheres hitting the wood, but instead his eyes widened as holes appeared where the mouths were and _swallowed_ the spheres. Instead of flowing through the holes and out the other side where he floated, the red spheres entered the gaping wide maws only to vanish immediately after.

Slowly the masks grew bigger, merging with one another with loud creaks and snaps as they did. Then the spheres disappeared completely and what had once been hundreds of small masks was now one large mask. As it turned back around to face him, this, too, started to change as a body started to grow from beneath its chin. Feet, legs, torso, hands, arms, shoulders, neck—a complete wooden body to support the wooden mask.

_The hollow mouth was moving._

The chanting had continued throughout this whole ordeal, but now he could hear it coming directly from the mask's mouth.

_The hollow mouth was growing._

Smoke seeped through the gaping abyss, the wispy, white tendrils curling and gathering around him. Then like ropes they snapped around him, and in the next moment he was flung into the mouth, disappearing into a sea of green.

* * *

><p>Kid bolted upright, his eyes wide as his body heaved with each gasping breath and beads of sweat rolled down his face and neck. But when he sat up, he felt something restraining his hands. Half expecting to see them wrapped in the strange white ropes, he looked down to find himself instead staring at two familiar girls lying on either side of him. Each one gripped his hand as they…slept? Yes, they were sleeping. He could see the subtle rise and fall of their chests and his sudden movement had somehow not woken them. Not yet, at least. He could not see any immediate sign of injury and was relieved to see them safe. In fact it looked like they had a chance to get some fresh clothes—something he definitely needed as he felt his own shirt sticking to his skin. It was then that he realized they were all on sleeping mats and in a strange room.<p>

That led to the next series of questions: where were they, what happened, and how much time had passed?

He closed his eyes for a moment to recollect his thoughts and to slow his still pounding heart and nerves. Although he could only remember bits and pieces of the events that had happened in his subconscious, it was still a jumbled and confused mess that he would have to sort through later.

After regaining most of his composure, he glanced around and took mental notes of his surroundings. It was a small room and a glance out the nearby window told him it was still night, though he was not sure if it was still the same day or not. A few candles set on a small nearby table provided the only sources of dim lighting, but it was enough for him to see that the walls were covered in masks—masks that looked a little too familiar and gave rise to a slight feeling of discomfort and suspicion. On the far left was a doorway, but rather than a door there was a curtain made by several strings of beads. Light filtered through the spaces in-between each long strand. Various other works of art hung along the walls and except for those, the room was rather bare. In fact the table was the only piece of actual furniture in the room, suggesting that the room was a spare of some kind. It was then that he caught the scent of a strange aroma.

_Incense? Or are those scented candles?_

It was hard to tell as the candles were large and set closest to him, thus obscuring his vision, but he thought he saw the tip of a long black stick and a faint trail of smoke. Deciding it was time for him to get up he tried to remove his hands from his weapons' surprisingly strong grips and wondered why they were even holding them to begin with. He had managed to free his left hand without waking Patti (instead she rolled over onto her other side), but he did not have such luck with Liz. When he saw her eyes flutter open and watched her shift and turn to look up at him, he just waited for her to go through what he guessed would be her reaction: shock and then a long series of yelling and scolding.

While her eyes did widen, he instead found himself almost falling backwards when the girl threw her arms around him.

"_Kid!_" Liz cried. "It worked! You're alive! You're really—"

"Wait—Liz—" _Worked? _What _worked?_

His mind raced as he tried to comprehend what was happening. This was not what he expected, and he was having difficulty trying to maintain his balance since Patti was somehow still sleeping like a dead log on his left. Through reflex alone did he swing his arm far enough back so as not to accidentally hit the younger girl. But he managed and let out a long breath as he just sat there, glancing down at the older sister before placing a hand on her shoulder.

"…Liz…"

His words were cut short when she pulled back and he caught a glimpse of the girl's face. He was used to seeing her upset—though those had been usually overdramatic and hardly ever a cause for concern. Although there were no tears, this, however, was different.

"You _idiot!_" she yelled as she punched him hard in the chest, causing him to wince. "Do you have any idea what we've gone through because of you! How worried we were?"

She was not looking at him directly. Her head was bowed and her long bangs overshadowed her face. But he knew the expression she was hiding—how she really felt. Despite her loud voice, he could hear the tremor, and when she punched him again there was less force to it compared to the first one. Her shoulder trembled underneath his hand as her fist relaxed, curled fingers resting against his chest as she continued in a more subdued voice.

"No matter what we did you wouldn't wake up and even the mermaids couldn't help…"

Her voice was trailing now and her words confused him. _Mermaids?_ He wanted her to clarify, but he knew better than to ask that question _now_ of all times. Instead he waited a moment before reaching down to gently grab her wrist.

"Liz," he started again for the third time. He waited a moment to see if she would look up, but when she did not his voice softened a little as he continued. "I know I made both you and Patti worried…and I'm sorry." He closed his eyes and sighed. "For everything."

_For everything. _At those words she looked up at him sharply and stared at him for a few moments. She knew he was going to start blaming himself for things that he never even had any control over and somehow that made her even more irritated. Her frustration must have shown on her face because she could see the look of confusion that was growing on Kid's. But before she could respond, her sister finally stirred awake and sat up.

"Mmm…hmmmm…?" Patti rubbed her eyes before blinking them open. It took a few seconds for them to focus, but when they did her eyes lit up. "Kid you're awake!" she exclaimed before she tilted her head a little. "But why is Sis sitting on your lap?"

"Huh?" the two said in unison before looking back at each other. It was then that they realized that at some point during the sudden hug and punching her body must have moved and resettled on top of his legs rather than back on the floor.

Immediately Liz felt the heat rise to her face, which was only worsened when she noticed that Kid did not seem as flustered by it like she was. She was the only one who felt self-conscious and somehow she should have expected it—it was Kid. The most he felt was just a slight feeling of awkwardness since he was not used to such close physical contact. But because it was Liz he also did not think much more about it.

"It just happened that way," Kid explained with a small sigh as he looked back at Patti. "Liz was upset, threw herself on me, and that was it."

"Don't say it like that!" Liz half shouted as all sense of that strange embarrassment disappeared in a flash and replaced by the urge to smack him. But she was soon cut off by her younger sister.

"What, no fair! I want hugs from Kid, too!" she whined.

"_I_ didn't hug—Patti!" he yelled.

"Wait—!" Liz cried at the same time, but it was too late.

Without leaving any time to let her sister move, Patti jumped on top of _both _of them and with enough force to really send Kid falling backwards.

"_PATTI!_" Liz yelled angrily as she struggled.

"Yay, Kid's back!" Patti sang as she clung onto her flustered meister and ignored her sister's protests. "Group hug! Group hug!"

Kid just gritted his teeth as he felt the back of his head throbbing from its sudden impact with the floor before grabbing the girl's shoulder and tried to push her off. "Patti, will you quit goofing around and get _off_ of us—"

There was a light clatter of beads as the beaded curtain that served as the door rose and fell, followed by a low whistle. "From all the yelling I thought something had happened, but looks like I need to give you all some privacy."

It truly was an interesting sight. Because of her previous body position, Liz had still been facing Kid. So when the trio fell backwards, the right side of her body was sandwiched right in-between the two. Patti had one arm around Kid's shoulder while the other clung to her sister's arm. And of course, Kid was on the bottom with one hand pushing against Patti's shoulder and the other around trapped beneath Liz's body. In short, they were a tangled mess and until Patti moved, they were stuck there.

Kid started when he heard the new voice, and with Patti still giggling and clinging to them, he could only crane his head around to see a short but robust young woman with more tattoos and piercings he thought possible. With long, dark hair and Bermuda sun tanned skin, the bright colors she wore stood out even more. In her mouth was a white stick—most likely from a lollipop—and in her arms was a fresh change of clothes that he could only assume was meant for him.

"Vera, look! Kid's awake!" Patti called out, answering the question the trapped death god was about to ask.

"Yeah, I can see that," the woman smirked as she leaned against the doorframe. "You should feel lucky having two cute girls looking after you like that."

That only earned her a haggard look that basically read, "You're joking, right?" He could hardly consider this _lucky_ in the sense that she was probably insinuating. However he would agree that seeing them there the moment he had awoken had made him realize that he was quite fortunate for having such loyal friends and weapons at his side. But for now, all he felt was exasperation.

"Vera, could you _please_ help us?" Liz pleaded as she tried to keep her face from touching the floor. Unfortunately this meant she had to keep her head close to Kid's neck, which was somehow worse.

"I dunno. I think you all look _very_ comfortable, right now," the woman continued to grin. "I should get my sketchbook."

"Haha, you should draw us like this!" Patti laughed.

"This is not the time for drawing!" Kid shouted, his patience long broken. "Patti, get off. _Now._"

"Okaaay," the girl said with a slight pout. She held onto Kid for a few more seconds before finally releasing her hold and rolling off of them. But even then she just sat down on the ground next to him, keeping the distance between them close as a hand drifted and pinched the loose fabric of his shirt.

The moment her sister got up, Liz immediately disentangled her legs and stood up, allowing Kid to sit up right after. With a tired sigh he ran a hand through his hair in a half-hearted attempt to straighten it before looking at all of them. "Now, could someone please tell me how I can get a shower and then tell me what happened?"

* * *

><p>A long overdue but refreshing shower and a fresh change of clothes later, Kid walked out of the rather compact bathroom and into the larger, more open den where the others waited. Although he had yet to venture through the whole house, he could make a few guesses as to how its structure was. The room he entered was circular and open. In fact it was so open he could see out of both the north and south ends of the room to the darkness outside. Each end extended out to outdoor porches that were screened off, but it allowed the breeze to filter through and provide a natural cooling system for the building. An overhanging ceiling lamp hung right in the center, the blades of the fans slowly turning to help circulate the air. Every now and then he thought he could hear a soft clinking sound like chimes carried with the breeze.<p>

Three doorways led out of each of the other two curved walls, with the bathroom he had just exited on the southwestern side. The room he had woken up in had been directly across on the southeast. The other four rooms were likely another bedroom, a kitchen, an art studio, and another utility room of some kind such as a closet. He doubted it would be for laundry as most local homes of this kind did their laundry the traditional way: outdoor hand washing. Were he to go outside, he guessed he would find the clothing lines somewhere nearby.

Although the structure of the building seemed rather symmetrical, the décor ruined it and was one of the reasons why he assumed there was an art studio. Like the other room, masks hung along the walls, but they were also splattered with paints of various designs and colors. Which were accidental and which were intentional he could not tell—they all blended together in some chaotic harmony that only the artist would find appealing. Other works of art littered the room—paintings, sketches, abstract sculptures. Candles housed in small glass containers also lined the walls in a haphazard fashion, providing additional lighting. But what caught his eye was the occasional small, black wooden statue that rested on a few shelves. Some were used as book ends but others stood on their own. The flickering lights cast eerie shadows from the masks and statues that lined the walls.

The center of the room was also strange as the floor had been dug out to create a hollow area to step down into. Here a low, oddly shaped black wooden table was situated with large, colorful mosaic patterned cushions laid around as seats. Shaped as a half moon, the outer curve of the table faced the northern end while the inner curve opened to the south. The girls were sitting along this inner curve, the table's surface covered with a zoo of origami animals that could only have been made by one Patti Thompson.

"Where's Vera?" Kid asked as he took one last glance at the masks and statues before making his way over and sitting down at the end of the outer curve opposite them. He would have preferred sitting at the center of the curve, but he did not like the feeling of having his back completely exposed to the open porch. Instead he tried his best to be as centered to the eastern wall as he could.

"In the kitchen," Patti said as she moved a hippo over to stomp on an alligator. "Isn't this place _awesome_?"

"It's…something," he answered a little dryly as he took one more glance around the room. He seemed to notice something new every time he did.

"Don't even try touching anything," Liz said as she picked up a frog and played with its legs.

"I wasn't planning on it." Though that did not mean the urge to do so was not there. There was even a surfboard leaning against the wall—really why would one keep a _surfboard_ there! Wouldn't it better outside or at least on the porch?

"Good," Vera's voice came from one of the adjacent rooms before she walked through the beaded curtain, a tray in her hands. "This place is like my own soul and I don't want anyone fucking with it," she continued as she gave Kid a pointed look before setting down the cups of hot tea and a large plate of sliced fruit with toothpicks sticking out from a couple of the slices.

Liz wondered if a threat like that would even work as she glanced down to study the cups. They were rather "cute" in her opinion and she wondered if they were handmade. Made of white clay, the only painted designs were the leaf-like swirls that matched Vera's tattoos and each cup had a different color. Hers was purple, Patti's pink, and Kid's yellow.

Kid just sighed and looked at the older woman. "I think we have more important matters to discuss," he answered as he eyed her. She seemed friendly, but the girls seemed more comfortable around her than he was personally willing to trust. He still had no idea who this woman was and whether she was a friend or foe in disguise.

Vera caught the look and only grinned. "Fine, fine. I guess the girls should tell you their little adventure. It's a pretty good one, too," she added as she plucked a piece of pineapple from the plate with a toothpick.

"It…really is hard to believe," Liz admitted as she played with her own toothpick while Patti started with the strawberries. "So just listen, okay?"

After gathering her thoughts, Liz slowly recounted what happened after the fight against the bat. How they had swum up to the surface and pulled Kid with them and how they encountered the mermaids and received their aid. She saw the look of incredulity he gave her, but he did not interrupt and allowed her to continue. When she got to the whale, however, she could tell he was trying hard to _not_ say anything. Even she knew how ridiculous the story sounded, and she had lived through it. But upon retelling the mermaid's song, she saw his expression change.

"They sang?" he finally interrupted her, though he was more serious and contemplative than he was before.

"Yeah!" Patti answered. "And it was so _cool_! You couldn't see their mouths moving but you could still hear their voices—like some mind telepathy singing thing. And it was like we were in the ocean!"

"It was pretty amazing," Liz agreed. "And Patti and I were able to resonate again after that." She then faltered. "It was supposed to help you, too, but…"

"You started hurting again," Patti finished for her, her voice more subdued compared to her earlier enthusiasm.

"What do you mean?" Kid asked.

"Well you were clutching your chest," Liz answered. When he did not immediately respond and instead only remained silent, she tentatively asked, "It doesn't still hurt does it?"

"No," he quickly answered as he glanced over at her. _At least not right now._ He felt more or less normal, but what she described sounded similar to what he experienced in his subconscious. He had almost forgotten about it until she mentioned the mermaid's singing. The only clear memories he had were of the moments before he awoke. He now had to wonder what else he had forgotten. "What happened then?"

"They almost shot my assistant," Vera said dryly as she leaned against the table.

"He came out of _nowhere_, okay?" Liz shot back a little defensively. "A little warning would have been nice."

Kid looked between the two of them puzzled. "Assistant?"

"Lokun," Vera answered. She then pointed her toothpick at her him. "You're wearing his clothes, you know, so better thank him tomorrow when he comes back with the supplies."

This caught him a little off guard, but with the very limited information he had of this mysterious Lokun, he supposed it made sense that he was borrowing someone else's clothes. There were still more questions he wanted to ask about this "Lokun," but he held them off for the moment. "Continue."

"Well the mermaids seemed to recognize him," Liz started again. "I guess that's why they dropped us off here. Vera showed up not too long after and, well, we recognized her from the other day."

She's an artist!" Patti chimed in before adding with a suspiciously wide grin, "Sis bought a drawing she drew of—"

"Yeah that's not really important right now," Liz hastily said as she jabbed her elbow against her sister's side, which only made the younger girl giggle. "Anyway, we told them what happened and Lokun carried you back up here. That's when…uh…" She glanced over at Vera. "You should explain this part."

Kid looked over at his weapon confused before turning to Vera. "What happened?"

"Not gonna lie, you were pretty messed up," the older woman said as she leaned over toward him. "Whatever you were going through, it was happening in here," she jabbed his chest before tapping his forehead, "and here. But you seem all right now."

He only gave her a slight look for the sudden invasion of his personal space before asking warily, "And _how_ were you able to figure that out?"

"It wasn't that hard to figure out after what the sisters told me," she said in a bored tone. "Plus I come from a long line of soul healers."

"Soul healers?" Kid repeated, his brows rising a bit.

"People who heal souls? Come on, it's not that complicated of a name."

"Yet it seems art is your main profession."

"Haven't you ever heard that art can soothe the soul?"

At that remark, Liz could not help but think back to the sketch she had purchased and was reminded how looking at it _had_ given her a calm feeling. Was that really Vera's talent? Or was that just a coincidence?

"Tell him how you did it!" Patti interrupted, impatient for the story to continue.

"Yes, Vera," Kid said in an even but guarded tone as he tried to process this new piece of information. "How did you treat me?"

Noting the suspicious look, Vera only grinned as she stood up. "With a little old folk ritual passed down from generation to generation." She then stepped up and out of the lowered floor and walked over to one of the shelves where Kid had noted a few statues standing on it.

Hearing the word "ritual" did not ease him in the slightest as he watched her. "And how did that work?" Was this what Liz had referred to before?

As if knowing what he was going to ask next, she turned around and held up a strange little wooden statue. "With this little fellow right here," she answered before returning to the table and setting it down right in front of him.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Several hours ago<strong>_

It had been a long night and Liz wondered if it would ever end. First the bat, then the mermaids, then the whale, and now they were in a stranger's home staring down at Kid's prone body on the floor. Granted this was a stranger they were vaguely familiar with, but one nonetheless. After their encounter on the beach, the girls found themselves waiting in the almost empty room—a meditation room was what Vera had called it, though Liz did not see how one could meditate in here. There was only a table with three different sized candles lit, and the flickering light cast eerie shadows on the masks that covered the walls around them. She shuddered as the hollow eyes seemed to watch their every move. Patti, of course, thought the complete opposite and Liz had to restrain the girl from taking one off and trying it on.

She was so focused on staring at the masks that she jumped at the sudden rustle of the beaded curtain and whirled around to see the woman coming in with a bowl containing a few things in it: some small round candles, a box of matches, a flask filled with some dark liquid, what looked like a small black plate, long thin black sticks, a small wooden box, and—

"…What the hell is _that_?" Liz asked as she stared at the small wooden statue Vera pulled out before she set it down on the table with the other items.

It was creepy in the way that it resembled a human and had the mask as a face. Just two dark, hollow eyes and a gaping wide mouth. The green carved lines down the sides and the stringy hair did not help. Not even Lord Death's old mask made her shudder like the one she saw on the small, wooden person.

"Just another tool for the ritual," the woman answered as she arranged everything.

Hearing the word "ritual" did not settle well with the older girl, so while Patti stood closer to watch, Liz stood closer to Kid, keeping herself between him and the table. "And you're sure you can help him?" she asked, not bothering to hide her guarded tone. "Because if you're really a witch—"

"_If_ I were a witch," Vera said as she brushed past her to arrange the eight, smaller candles in a half moon arc on the floor above Kid's head, "then I would have killed you all before you even stepped into this house. Besides," she glanced up at Liz as she lit a match. "Shouldn't you have thought of that _before_ accepting my help?"

The fox-like grin and the way the woman continued to proceed unnerved her, but she had a point. Liz had been so relieved just to see a familiar face that she did not think twice, especially when the mermaids seemed to know both her and the other guy—what was his name, Loki? Logan? _Where did he go, anyway?_

"Vera's not a witch," Patti piped in as she stood next to her sister to watch. "She's too cool to be one. She reminds me of Kim!"

_...Well they do have similar personalities…_ "I'm only trusting you because those mermaids did," Liz finally said. Besides, if this really had been some elaborate scheme to bring them here, then she doubted they would have stood a chance against her. "But if anything happens to Kid during this—"

"Then you'll blow my brains out," Vera said as she stood back up after lighting the last of the eight candles. "Right, right. Now can you hand me that incense burner and the flask?"

Liz stared at her. "The what?"

"The incense burner—the plate with the flower on it."

"I got it!" Patti exclaimed as she hopped back over the table and after a moment picked up the desired objects.

As she passed by, Liz looked over at it. It was the black plate she had glimpsed at before, but now she could see the flower Vera had mentioned. It was sculpted in the center with the leaves etched on the plate itself. There were also light green lines that curved in a vine-like design around the plate. _That's an incense burner?_ Liz thought. She had always seen them as bowls or containers with intricate designs. This one seemed rather simple yet elegant.

Vera directed Patti to set it on the floor within the center of the arc directly above the top of Kid's head. Once it was set the woman took the flask and poured a few drops into the center of the flower. She then set three of the long, thin black sticks in the flower before lighting them. As they burned, a soft but sweet aroma started to waft through the room.

…_This really does look like some kind of witch ritual_, Liz thought as she stared at the now complete arrangement. "So where's that guy?" she asked, recalling her earlier thought.

"Lokun? I sent him down to the neighboring island to bring back supplies," the woman answered as she stood up to return to the table. "The storm's going to hit tomorrow and I definitely do not have enough for all three of you."

"Wait, what?" Liz just stared at her. She remembered seeing the storm clouds, but— "You seriously think we're going to stay here?"

Vera looked down at the unconscious death god. "Until he recovers? You won't have much of a choice. Even if he wakes up before the morning, none of you will be able to do much. The storm is said to hit late morning, so you guys are lucky you landed here when you did."

_So we're stuck_, Liz thought with some dismay. But at least they were not out _there _like Vera said. She said the storm would not hit until late morning and Lokun had to come back before then. It never hurt to think of an escape plan, like making a run for it and hide before stealing the boat later.

"Okay, what is it that you're going to do it? Like, _exactly_."

"I'm fixing your meister," Vera said as she opened the wooden box and rummaged through it. "I told you on the way up here—I come from a long line of soul healers. It was a thing for the village I came from."

"And all of this stuff is part of this…soul healing?"

"Soul healing works similar to meditation," Vera explained as she held up a purple crystal before setting it back in the box. "The incense has a calming effect on the mind which lets the person focus more inward into their soul—damn not this one either," she muttered as she set down a white crystal. "The patient works to concentrate on their wavelength and resort it on their own. But since your friend over there is unconscious, we have to do it for him—where the hell _is_ that—don't tell me I don't have anymore."

"What are you looking for?" Liz finally asked as she stared at the various stones that now covered the table.

"An ocean crystal," the woman sighed as she held up a clear, blue crystal. "This one will work, but judging from his condition he's got something else going on. If used properly, crystals help capture any traces of Madness that may be infecting the soul—"

"Wait, seriously?" Liz exclaimed wide-eyed.

"—but it's _dangerous_ and only my people can do it," Vera finished as she gave the girl a rare hard look. "It's a technique we only use under extreme circumstances and keep it in-house. Ocean crystals are the best for high amounts of Madness, but they are really hard to come by these days, at least the ones large enough for any real use. The small ones are more commonly used for jewelry."

Seeing the woman so serious about it unnerved Liz a bit. "What do they look like?"

"Similar to this," she said as she held the blue crystal closer to Liz, "but it's light green in color. They get their name by how it captures the light, giving it a shimmering reflection similar to—"

"Water?"

Vera stopped and looked at Liz, noting the look of realization that was spreading across the girl's face. "…Yes. Why? Have you seen one before?"

"Hold on," she said as she hurried to where she set their bags and rummaged through it. "Come on…I know I saw it…here!" she suddenly yelled as she jumped back up. Just as she hoped, it had not been one of the many things that had fallen out of her back. After a moment of hesitation, she walked back and held it up to the woman. "Is this it?"

Vera stared up at the crystal, and in the candle light the light rippled through the clear cerulean colored crystal. A wide grin spread across her face as she reached for it.

Liz, however, jerked her hand back before repeating, "This is it…right? And you need it?"

Amused Vera placed a hand to her hip as she looked up at the girl. "Aye, that's it and if you want this cleansing to be a success, we'll be needing it." Seeing the doubt still in the weapon's eyes, she sighed. "Look, it's not like I'm going to suck his soul into it."

"Not helping," Liz said dryly, but she glanced down to where Kid lay. He did seem to look calmer. Maybe the incense was working? A little bit of hope fluttered in her chest, but she managed to quell it down as she hardened her voice. "Just _promise_ me that nothing bad will happen."

Vera looked at Liz before that mischievous grin softened. "Honey, you remember that sketch I did of you two?"

Awkward embarrassment started to crack through her otherwise tough exterior. "…Yeah? So what?" _What does that have to do with anything?_

"You want that time back?"

"I just want _Kid_ back and not hurting anymore," she quickly responded, though in the back of her mind she answered yes. Yes she wanted the time back when they were just relaxing and not in the middle of this stupid, crazy mission and risking their lives every minute they were on it.

"Then nothing bad will happen," Vera said as she stepped closer to her, "because he has you two looking after him. Even if I tried you wouldn't let me, right?"

Not without giving hell first, at least. There was a moment as Liz stood there in silence before she turned to look at Patti who was now sitting on Kid's left. The younger girl only gave her sister a reassuring grin and that settled it. Her free hand clenching for a brief moment, she turned to look back at Vera and held out the crystal to her.

"Bring him back," was all she said.

The older woman took the crystal and held it up, examining it for herself. Satisfied she turned to the table and removed the mask from the statue, revealing a hollow cavity. "He's a lucky guy," she said as she placed the crystal inside and brought the statue to stand just outside the arc of candles, again set in the exact center.

"Kid helped us out a lot," Patti said. "So we kind of owe him."

"Sounds like you have quite the history."

"Something like that," Liz quietly agreed as she looked down at both her sister and Kid. "So…what now?"

"I need you to sit next to him here," Vera said before instructing them exactly how to position themselves.

Liz felt another wave of awkwardness as she sat on Kid's right and faced her sister who still sat on his left opposite her. Their legs were crossed and with their hands they formed a strange circle. With one hand they held each other's and the other held Kid's. _Is holding hands a thing that all rituals used?_ Liz wondered. It was similar to what they had to do when they entered the Book, but at least Vera did not require witches or diagrams on the ground.

"The fact that the mermaids' song didn't help tells me this is gonna be rough," Vera said as she sat right beneath Kid's feet. "So while I'm performing the cleansing, you two just focus your soul wavelengths and try to connect to his. But," she looked at each of them, "it's going to be dangerous. Your own souls could be at risk, you know."

The sisters exchanged glances, Patti's more eager one contrasting with Liz's more troubled and uncertain one. But Liz could already feel the warmth of her sister's soul, as if the younger girl was trying to tell her that it would be okay. That once this was over they would all be back together and everything would be right again.

"Well we've come this far," Liz said, already having a feeling that this was not going to be a simple procedure.

"We've done a lot more crazy stuff than this," Patti chimed in.

The woman's grin widened at their responses. "Then close your eyes and concentrate."

And then the ritual began.

* * *

><p>"After that, it was…weird," Liz said. "Like, all I could feel were Patti's soul and your soul. And then I don't remember much."<p>

"They completely zoned out," Vera said. "Given how much energy it took, I'm not too surprised that they conked out like they did."

That explained why the girls had been holding his hands when he woke up. Kid had been silent during the retelling, and it had taken him a few moments, but some of the things they spoke of struck a few chords with him. The timing of it all matched what he experienced, and hearing that Liz and Patti had been trying to connect to his soul only reaffirmed what he knew: those two pink threads had been their soul wavelengths and they were the ones who pulled him out. Whether they realized it or not was a different matter, but they had definitely been there. But it was toward the end that his eyes narrowed.

"Do either of you realize how dangerous that was?" he said, his voice hardening as he stared at the girls. "Ignoring the fact you had no idea what was happening, you could have been affected by whatever was affecting me or worse—been consumed by it."

"Well _yeah_ we knew," Liz said defensively, her hands gripping the now cold tea cup. "But if it would help you wake up then we were willing to risk it."

"You should have contacted someone else—"

"There wasn't any time for that! You were getting worse and we didn't have our phones—"

"Not that it would matter since we have shitty phone service here," Vera muttered under her breath.

"—and we don't know Morgan's number so we couldn't use the mirror so what else were we going to do? Just let you suffer like that?"

"You could have contacted Shibusen and have someone else come to your aid."

"Well you know when you have an unconscious meister having chest pains and you just came from almost drowning in the middle of the oceans you don't always think of everything!"

Once again, Patti found herself glancing at both of them as they continued to argue. She could both understand and not understand why Kid seemed so angry about what they did. So he was worried about them—she got that part, but they were used to doing things on their own and having to take care of him whenever he was incapacitated. They grew up in dangerous environments where no one trusted anyone. That all changed when they met Kid, though, and like she had told Vera, they owed him. And like her sister, Patti would do whatever it took to make sure he stayed safe, even if it meant diving into magical books or partaking in weird rituals.

"Does it really matter?" she finally interrupted. "I mean…we're all okay and nothing bad happened! So why are you two arguing about it?"

The two could only look at the younger Thompson sister with blank expressions. They knew she had a point, but neither wanted to back down.

In the end, however, Kid was the first to relent as he sighed and leaned back. "I'm just glad things did work out and that neither of you were hurt."

"They were in good hands," Vera said dismissively. "Course I'm not exactly a professional. I just picked up a few things here and there over the years."

His eyes narrowed. "So if you had performed it incorrectly…"

"You all could have died."

The fact that she said it with such nonchalance only irked Kid and sparked that initial flame of concern and wariness again. Seeing her meister riling up, Patti stuck a toothpick into one of the few strawberries left and held it out to him, leaning over Liz as she did. "Here, Kid! You haven't eaten anything yet."

Surprised he just stared at the strawberry. "I'm not—" His words were cut short when he suddenly found the piece of fruit shoved into his mouth and had to stop himself from choking. When he finally managed to swallow he sputtered, "Patti!"

Liz was also surprised by her sister's sudden act, but she just continued to lean back and watched as the younger girl just laughed. She had also seen Kid's change of expression and did not want to go into another argument. If Patti could distract him, then she was not going to interfere.

"Because you were getting angry again," Patti said as she pointed at him. "Come on, lighten up! You're okay now and Vera didn't steal your soul or anything." Now fully lying on her sister's lap, she looked up at her less than amused meister. "So you can trust her, right?"

Kid just continued to give the girl a dry look before glancing up at Liz. She only shrugged. Whatever misgivings she initially held had been cleared when Kid woke up safe and sound. Seeing that he was left on his own to decide, he let out a sigh and looked at the woman who had been watching them.

"At the very least what you told me matched with what I remember," he finally said.

"You remember what happened while you were unconscious?" Liz asked.

"Bits and pieces," he said. "But the later events are fresher in my mind."

"You know you're lucky, right?" Vera said as she leaned forward. "I've seen some pretty messed up folks pass through when I was growing up, and most don't survive an intensive ritual like that." She grinned. "Then again you _are_ a death god, so perhaps that's why."

Kid only eyed her. "I'm still curious to learn more about your heritage and your trade."

"Later," the woman said with a dismissive wave. "It's too late for that."

At the mention of time, he glanced at the clock. Like everything else in the house, it was more like a piece of art than a traditional looking wall clock. Made of what looked like oak, it was in the shape of a palm leaf with the hands made from sticks. But the short stick was currently just a little past the charcoal painted numerical two, the longer one just to the left of it. It really was late. Still, there was one thing he was curious about.

"So where is the crystal?"

The woman reached over to the statue. "Right here."

She pulled down on the "face" of the statue and Kid realized it was not a face at all but a mask. Behind it was the crystal Liz had collected back on the beach of Dyer's Cove. He had only given it a passing glance back then, but he still noticed that it was not as bright as it had been before. In fact the coloring looked dull, as if it had somehow been injected with dark ink and stained from the inside.

"Should have seen it before," she said as she watched him pick it up to give it a closer look. "It was almost pitch black."

Kid only glanced at her as turned the crystal between his fingers. If he recalled correctly, Vera had said that the crystal had the ability to absorb Madness. The fact that the crystal had such absorbing qualities was both intriguing and alarming. He had heard of cultures that believed that crystals such as these had some kind of healing property, but he always believed it to be metaphysical and more of a mind trick than anything concrete. Seeing it in his hand, however, made him wonder. For in this crystal he could feel the slight tinges of Madness contained within it.

"You mentioned that this particular crystal was more powerful than the others," he said as he looked over at the older woman. "So what makes it so special?"

"_That_ little beauty is known as an ocean crystal," Vera said. "You can only find them in certain places and large pieces like those aren't easy to find. Local legends say they hold mystical healing properties and were what the original soul healers used in their trade." She shrugged. "I don't know about the scientific properties, but soul healers have always used them."

Somehow Kid felt that she was not saying all that she knew. Perhaps it was that fox-like grin or that bright look in her eye that never seemed to disappear, but he had a feeling there was more to it than that and that he was not going to get anymore answers from her. At least not tonight. With a sigh he placed the crystal back into the statue. As he did, he took a moment to once again study the eerie wooden piece.

He could not help but wonder if the other wooden statues that were scattered about the room held similar objects or had been used for similar practices or perhaps for something else. He was also still not sure if the girls should have been so trusting. Soul healer or not (yet another thing he was going to have to look into) this whole ordeal seemed to resemble more of a witch's ritual than anything else. However, he was aware that there were other cultures that had similar practices. The practice of magic did not just belong to the witches, and given the islands' history with the local tribes, it was not too farfetched to believe that such a tribe existed.

Kid sat back and looked over at the older woman. "At any rate, you did help us and I am sitting here thanks to your methods." As questionable as those still were. "Along with you allowing us to stay in your home for the night, I thank you for everything you've done, Vera."

"Oh ho, being thanked by the little death god himself," Vera grinned. "But whatever, it's not like I'd leave those two girls hangin' out there high and dry."

"That's good to know," Liz said dryly, but she was also grateful. Even if they had only met once before, it was fortunate that they had landed on the island where the artist lived instead of some complete stranger. Seriously, what were the odds?

"Plus there's that storm coming," Vera added as she replaced the mask and stood up. "So you're probably gonna be stayin' for a day or two until the weather clears."

"I appreciate your offer of hospitality, but we can't stay that long," Kid said.

"Kid, you _just_ woke up from whatever the hell knocked you out," Liz protested.

"That doesn't matter."

"Yes it does," Vera interrupted. "A soul cleansing as draining as yours requires the patient to not do anything intensive for at least a day." Unlike her usual aloof demeanor, the woman was staring hard at Kid as she pointed her toothpick right at his soul. "Maybe half a day for you, but I wouldn't risk it. We got rid of whatever was messing with its circuits, but the soul needs to mend itself on its own."

"We need the break, anyway, Kid," Liz added. "Plus it's not like we can fight out in bad weather."

"I wanna stay over here for a little while," Patti said as she rolled onto her back while still on her sister's lip. "Come on, Kid! Just for a day."

With a frustrated sigh he pinched the bridge of his nose. Why did always come to this? However, Vera may have had a point. Were he to go out and encounter the bat again, he was not sure how he would fare if it used that attack again. He also did not want to put his weapons in that position again—especially if it could be worse. So in the end he took another breath.

"All right," he breathed. "For _one_ day," he added. "That should be plenty of time for me to fully recover and figure out our next move." He then turned to look through the screened openings into the darkness beyond. "Though this is going to set us back. I would have liked to return to Dyer's Cove in the morning."

"Go back where?" Vera asked, a brow raised.

"Dyer's Cove," Kid repeated, looking at her in slight confusion. "It's where we first encountered the bat and also where Liz got that crystal I believe."

"…Huh. Well I've never heard of no Dyer's Cove," the woman said. "And I've traveled through these islands all my life."

The three just stared at her. Or rather Kid and Liz stared. Patti just tilted her head in a more curious manner.

"What?" Liz said as she tried to make sense of what had just been said. "You can't be serious."

"I'm serious," Vera answered before shrugging. "Then again, maybe it's called something different. Some of these islands have so many different names that it's possible. But I've never heard any locals calling it that. Who told you about it?"

"A Shibusen agent," Kid answered slowly. Come to think of it, when they looked at the chart for directions back at that office, did he ever really see the island on the map? He had just looked at where Johnny had pointed and the direction it was from Verrils Island. But they had been to an island. It _existed_. Just not the name, apparently.

The older woman stood there thoughtfully. "Lokun has a few navigational charts in his house. He could bring them up tomorrow and we can look through them. If you remember where it was, we might be able to figure it out." She then stifled a yawn. "Until then, I'm getting some sleep. This has gone on a lot longer than I thought it would and I wasn't expecting you guys to wake up in the morning hours when it's still dark out. Let me get you guys some sleeping bags," Vera continued. "They're out in the storage shed in the back. Wanna help, Patti?"

"Sure!" Patti said as she hopped up and reached over to pick up the now empty fruit plate.

As the two disappeared through the beaded curtain that led to the kitchen, Liz started to gather up Patti's paper zoo to bring back to the room. But when she glanced over at Kid, she paused. He was leaning back against the edge of the floor and had that serious, contemplative look that she had grown accustomed to over the time she had been his weapon. The furrowed brow, the slight down turn of the mouth, the concentrated stare to the floor—all signs that he was processing all the information he had been given and trying to not only make sense of it all, but also figure out what they needed to focus on next.

In other words, he was thinking about crap he did not need to think about right now.

So after finding a small piece of leftover origami paper on the table, she rolled it into a ball, aimed, and threw it right at his head. When he jerked and looked up at her, she just crossed her arms and stared back, her face void of any real expression.

"You're going to give yourself a headache if you think too much right now."

Picking up the balled up piece of paper, he played with it between his fingers before setting it on the table—exact center and upon closer inspection, it had also been reformed so that it was more of a perfect sphere. "We need to figure out where to go from here—"

"And you can do that _later_," Liz interrupted as she stood up, her arms filled with the paper animals. "We're going to be here all day and you can look at all those sea charts or whatever. Plus you just woke up from being knocked out and you need _real_ sleep. Not the stuck-in-a-coma type of sleep. Now help me bring these things back to the room."

He just gave her a look before reaching over to pick up the handful of stray animals that had escaped capture. "I was not in a coma."

"Close enough," she said dismissively before stepping up and out of the lowered floor and walked over to the room they were temporarily using.

Although he could argue the technical and scientific differences between being in an actual coma and the strange state of unconsciousness he had been, Kid decided that it would be as fruitless as his previous attempts at correcting her constant misuse of tropical and subtropical and jungle and forest. So after gathering the last of the animals, he stood up, reset the cushions so that they were in a more orderly and evenly spaced position, shifted the table to be more perfectly centered on the floor, and stepped back up onto the main floor. He then turned and looked back over at where the statues were standing on display. They had caught his attention before, but now he found himself standing in front of the shelf and staring at them for closer inspection.

They were of various designs—some were tall, some short, some intricately designed, some bare—and all had masks that were also varied in design and color. He was tempted to try and remove the mask of one of them but refrained from doing so. They were likely harmless, but there was also something about them that piqued his curiosity. There were other strange items and artifacts on the shelves—bowls, stones…bones? He would have to ask Vera more about them later along with the mountain of questions he had already compiled from their previous discussion.

After taking a few more minutes, Kid took one last look before turning and walking over to the room. He was about to enter when Liz pushed back the curtain, almost running into him.

"There you are," she said as she held up the long, beaded strands higher so he could enter. "I was starting to wonder if you forgot which room it was." Though she knew he would not have.

"I take it this is the only guest room," he said as he walked over to where he saw Liz had placed the rest of Patti's creations. They were set in a corner of the room and she had even positioned and grouped them so that it really did look like some kind of zoo.

"Actually it's some kind of meditation room," she corrected as she followed after him. "I don't think Vera normally has people sleep over."

"That explains a lot, actually," he murmured as he set down the paper animals in their proper places. The incense burner he had seen on the table from earlier had been removed, the large candles the only things left and providing the only light in the room aside from the moonlight that streamed through the window.

"At least we'll have sleeping bags instead of these mats," she offered. _What's taking them so long, anyway?_ Liz wondered and hoped Patti did not get distracted by whatever else was in that shed. But at the thought of the sleeping bags coming in, she decided to clear out some space and crouched down to roll up the floor mats. "Come on, give me a hand."

Wordlessly Kid complied, crouching down next to her to help. But as he started to roll the mat he had been resting on only a few hours before, he stopped as the recent events replayed in his mind. Glancing upward, he looked at the bare floor. The items must have been removed while they had been asleep, but he could see where some of the candle wax had dripped onto the floor. After another moment he said in a low voice, "…Liz. I didn't properly say it before, but thanks."

The girl stopped in mid-roll and looked back at him. He was not looking at her, instead having resumed the task. She could see that he was trying to keep the mat straight and even as he rolled it and knew it was going to take him forever. But it would keep him busy, at least. She turned back around and resumed her rolling, listening to the thick, matted straw crunch and press against each other before replying. "It's fine. Like I told you, we're your weapons."

"You must find me a lousy meister, then," he said a little ruefully. "This is the second time you've had to pull me out of something."

"You just have bad luck," Liz said as she reached the end of her mat and moved to lean it against the nearby wall. "But I swear if I have to save your ass again I'm going to have Patti draw a picture book with you as the helpless princess stuck in a tower."

"Hey," he called out as he looked up at her, only to frown when he saw the smirk. His frown disappeared, however, when her own expression faltered and she looked back down.

"But seriously, Kid…I don't know how much more of this I can take," Liz said in a low voice. She was still on her knees, her hands clasped over one another as she stared down at them. She had kept up a strong front and they had somehow managed to pull through, but now that she was alone with Kid and the adrenaline now gone, all the memories came flooding back. And with them came the insecurities and fears that she had managed to keep at bay.

"I get that you're strong and I know that you can take a lot more than any of us can. But you're not invincible, either. When Vera told us that your soul had been damaged…it's different from a few broken bones or something. At least I know those can heal." Her voice softened even lower, her grip tightening. "I really thought you were gonna die back there." _And it really scared me._

Kid just stared at her, the half rolled mat forgotten as her words tumbled through his mind. He thought she would be used to this—that due to the nature of both their job as Shibusen agents and his duty as a death god such dangerous situations and possible life threatening outcomes were just another part of their life. Yes, she would sometimes protest, but for the most part she usually went with the flow. Seeing her like this, however, reminded him of what he saw earlier and how strange it had been. From the earlier discussions, he thought she had settled back to normal. So…why now?

"Liz, you know you don't have to worry so much abou—"

"I'm your weapon, okay?" she interrupted him, her voice rising a bit. "It's my job to protect you so of course I'm going to have to worry. And do you know how it feels when I _can't_?"

"You don't have to blame yourself," Kid said, keeping his voice calm as he tried to figure out what exactly it was that made her upset. Was it because of his injuries or was it something more? "I know you and Patti both do your best and I really couldn't ask for another pair of weapons." When she did not respond, he let out a soft breath and stood up, letting the mat roll back to the floor. He then moved to kneel in front of her. "Liz, look at me."

Hearing him so close startled her for a moment, and she found herself staring harder at her clenched hands, knowing her face would reveal the emotions she tried to hide. She had tried to put it behind her, to try and move on like usual. She had grown up in the streets, had hardened herself to become the person that she was today. But this had been different. She had felt helpless when they were drifting out in the middle of the ocean and she had to rely on anyone they happened to stumble into. It had been hard to believe that he would be okay when she could see him suffering right in front of her. But she could feel his eyes on her and after a moment she slowly raised her head and looked up. Although his expression was as calm and reserved as always, she could see the concern reflected in his eyes.

"As a weapon, your job is to protect me, your meister," Kid said. "But as your meister, I'm also supposed to guide and lead you. That also includes ensuring that you both are _safe_." His expression softened a little, his posture relaxing a bit, but there was also a bit of uncertainty. He moved so that he was sitting next to her. "Look. We both know that our line of work leads us to dangerous situations and while I use my being a death god to my advantage, I know I'm not invincible. But each time we fight, I also know that you guys will be there. I can only do what I can do because I have you both by my side." He leaned a little closer to her. "So don't _ever_ think you fail as a weapon. If there's anyone who has failed, it would be me."

"You don't fail," Liz muttered, now trying to keep the wave of embarrassment from rising any further than the flutter in her throat.

She never could accept actual heartfelt praise or compliments well, especially when it came from Kid. His compliments were always based on factual evidence and what he believed to be true. They were not just phrases of flattery—they were honest. And that always seemed harder to accept than other types of compliments. So she tried to redirect her emotions to the sudden bubble of annoyance that arose when he used the "f" word.

"Even when you were all messed up, you still tried to protect us in the end."

"It shouldn't have happened to begin with," he said, the guilt lacing his words as he looked down at his hands.

"I don't think any of us could have seen it coming," she sighed. "So I think we both kind of failed."

Kid glanced at her before tilting his head back to rest against the wall. "I won't let it happen again."

"Will you quit it with the 'I' business," Liz said as she gave him a look. "Let us help, too. Or was what you said before just all talk and flattery?"

"I was serious." But he got the point. "So I'll be relying on you. Both of you."

Liz sat there for a moment before she finally let her body relax; feeling the wave of exhaustion hit her. Had it really only been a day? "You are such a pain to take care of, you know that?" she muttered as she closed her eyes and leaned against him.

A little surprised by the sudden weight, he glanced over at her. "What is that supposed to mean?"

When he did not get a response and instead heard the soft breathing, he let out a small sigh. She could have easily have leaned against the mat that was set next to her other side. Why him? He did not move, instead closing his eyes as he listened to the sounds of the night life outside the window. But he then picked up something else.

"Your sister is already asleep so you might as well come in now," Kid said, his eyes still closed.

There was a small rustle from outside the doorway before the beaded curtain clattered as Patti made her way inside, bringing a large bundle over as she did.

"How long have you been out there?" Kid sighed as he reopened his eyes to look at her.

Patti just giggled as she walked over to them and set the bundle down, revealing them to be pillows and blankets. "Sis was really tired, huh?"

"I'm surprised you still have this much energy," he only said. "Now help me get her into one of those sleeping bags."

"Sorry, Kid," Patti said in a voice that suggested she was not sorry at all, "but there was only one."

He stared at her. "There's what?"

"Only one," she said as she held up one index finger as if to emphasize the point. "So we'll just do it like this…"

And before he could even move or protest, Patti had draped one blanket over both Liz and Kid before setting the sleeping bag next to him. She then wormed her way into it and rested her head on his lap. "Night, Kid!"

"Patti," he hissed, "I can't sleep like this!"

But the younger girl said nothing, instead wriggling a little inside the sleeping bag. And then she, too, soon fell asleep, something he had not expected to happen so quickly. It was then that he realized that despite her energy, the girl was likely just as exhausted as her sister.

Seeing that both his weapons were now asleep, Kid let out a long sigh. Once more tilting his head back against the wall, he closed his eyes, the dimming candle lights flickering and extinguishing soon after. He let the silence of the room and the soft sounds of the night envelop him as his thoughts began to wander. Tomorrow he would have to try and contact both his father and Morgan, especially with the latter. It was likely the captain had noticed them missing and had people looking for them.

_I never did ask what island this was_, he thought idly as he felt his consciousness drifting. More questions for tomorrow. As his thoughts continued to drift, he thought he caught the sound of glass clattering against one another. Chimes? Wind chimes, perhaps. He vaguely remembered hearing them earlier. A familiar sound…

_Clink clink clink._

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN:**_ _Ah…haha…long overdue chapter is _way_ long overdue. Sorry about that. To help make up for the wait, everyone gets a 21 page chapter. I considered splitting it, but I preferred having it all together since there weren't that many good breaking points. A lot more elements were brought in and some introspection and development. And the artist from chapter one has finally made her reappearance! Nothing is going to waste in this story, so what else will prove to be important?_


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